I'm Coming Home
by Shortstakk7932
Summary: After having a rocky start in the BAU during 'Who Are You', Alecta and the team head back to her home town for a birthday bash; it's part of the two week vacation that they have been granted by Strauss. While they are there, the team starts to learn even more about what has made Alecta the woman she is today. Nothing very sexual. Rated M to be safe for possible foul language.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: So this is the next story that I had planned on writing for a while. This picks up somewhere around where the last chapter (26) of 'Who Are You' left off. The BAU team has gone with Alecta back to her home town having been given two weeks off from the Dragon Lady of the BAU. Anyway, let's see what unfolds, yeah.**

"**I wasn't safe. I wasn't permanent. My life was a fiction I had created, like an alien who comes to earth and tries to pass as human. The affections of my friends meant nothing to me, directed, as they were, toward a person who wasn't there. There was nobody home."  
**_( Robert Goolrick, 'The End of the World as We Know It: Scenes from a Life')_

**It's what made me, saved me, drove me crazy, Drove me away than embraced me, forgave me for all of my shortcomings, welcome to my homecoming. Yeah it's been a long time coming.  
**_(DIDDY - COMING HOME LYRICS)_

**Chapter 1:**

_The flight had been short and uneventful. They had been allowed to use one of the FBI jets to get there, since it was a short notice sort of move. Immogene had come back on her own way to the airport and dropped off a suitcase full of clean clothes and necessary items for Alecta; this way Alecta wouldn't have to chance setting foot back in the compound again. The worry about that was two-fold; not only did the girls worry about any possible risks as far as security goes, but they also worried that in her current emotional state, Alecta would torch the place; and there was still a lot of stuff to get out of there. _

When everyone had arrived back at Rossi's, this included Hotch and Jack, Hotch walked into a door frame in Rossi's house when he saw Alecta standing in the living room going through one of her bags, making sure she had everything in it that she needed. She was standing there in a pair of faded, old jeans that had holes in the knees. They surely highlighted her best _assets._ And on her feet was a pair of silver and white 'Sketcher' flip-flops. She was wearing a deep purple camisole top that was slightly ribbed. Her hair was down, and most of it was draped over her shoulder from where she had been bent down examining her bag, with a few bits here and there that tumbled back down her back. There was a top tied around her waist that was various shades of purple in a plaid design, it also had a metallic silver thread that was woven throughout it for effect.

"Daddy…you alright?"

"Yes, Hotch. Are you ok?"

Hotch looked at Rossi, who was trying so hard not to laugh that he nearly had tears in his eyes, Hotch mouthed 'asshole' over to Rossi who had to go back into the kitchen before he died laughing.

"Yes Jack, I'm fine. I just wasn't paying attention to where I was going."

In the meantime Alecta had turned when she heard Hotch smack into the door frame, and heard Jack ask his first question.

"What were you paying attention to daddy?"

"Jack, did you pack your toothbrush?"

"Uh, Hotch, what happened man?"

"I was just going over my mental check list and making sure I remembered to pack everything…"

"And in the process forgot to pay attention to those pesky doorways; didn't ya boss man?"

"Penelope."

Penelope bit her lips together to help stifle a laugh as she walked past the men. She damned well what had caused Hotch to walk into the doorway; it was the same thing that had caused men to walk into doorways and trip over their own two feet for nearly 20 years, if not more.

"So, Lex, are ya done packing? I think so; Immogene did a good job. She knows the stuff I usually like to take with me."

"Well, if everybody is ready, let's get this show on the road." Rossi, as always, was taking charge.

The team, along with Penelope and Alecta and the kids made their way out to the air strip and jumped on the plane. The flight was uneventful; the two sets of twins were playing, along with Jazzy. Sofie and Emma absolutely adored their older brother. The two Rachels conversed. Kevin had gone ahead with his parents two days ago to make sure everything was ready for the guests. The older twins were good at art, as was their brother, and they were making drawings that they would then pass to the smaller children to color. Sasha drew a picture for Jazzy that looked like a cartoon version of the little girl that was holding a bouquet of various flowers with a letter in an envelope. She passed it to the little girl who squealed with delight and had just set to work on the bouquet; her biggest decision was what color to pick first.

Alecta was reading a book about the possibility of Dracula being alive and the old fight between him and Sultan Mehmed II.

"You don't actually buy into any of that do you?"

"Ok. I don't buy into all of that."

"You're being sarcastic."

"Very good doctor Reid."

"How can someone with any amount of education and common sense believe that he still lives?"

"Because, I saw the son of a bitch!" she gritted through her teeth.

With that Alecta slammed her book shut and got up and moved over by her children and watched them color.

Hotch had looked up from his card game with Jack when he heard Reid and Alecta start talking. He hadn't thought much of it until he heard Alecta raise her voice. Again he looked up and saw her leave her conversation with Reid and go over to her kids, she didn't even seem to notice that he was watching. Hotch made a mental note to ask Reid and Alecta what this little disagreement was about.

Alecta smiled to herself a bit as she stooped down by her daughters and Jazzy, watching them color. Of course she noticed Hotch watching her. She had noticed a lot about the way he acted towards her for days now….and especially the last couple of hours since he walked into the wall at Rossi's house. It was cute, the way he thought he was being all covert…and failing.

Once the jet reached the private air strip about 2 ½ hours later, the door was slung open and everyone began to make their exits. Once down on the tarmac, and after helping the three little girls, Alecta looked around and saw Kevin walking towards them. He was still so very handsome, she'd nearly forgotten how much so.

"You alright baby?"

"Yeah, mama I'm fine. I just remember him as the boy I left behind, that's all. Let's do this."

As Kevin walked closer, Alecta noticed some other fellows getting out of the other SUVs. By the time Kevin was hugging Alecta she could clearly see who had gotten out of the driver's seat of the vehicles.

"No." she began backing away as they came closer. Kevin saw her panic rise in her eyes.

"Lex, calm down, they're my deputies."

"Make 'em stay away from me. Please."

She was scooting behind Kevin, trying to put a little distance between her and the men that walked towards them.

"What's wrong doll face?"

Alecta looked over her shoulder at Morgan. Her eyes were weary again.

The men stopped walking and stood a solid 15 feet away from Kevin and Alecta.

"They used to give Lex shit back when we were in school…' feeling her shaking behind him. "They gave her _A LOT_ of shit back then. Lex, it's cool. They aren't like that anymore."

Alecta walked a little closer to the men, glaring at them, 'If you want me to forgive you, you're earning it." With that, Alecta walked to the SUV that Kevin had driven and climbed up in the passenger seat.

Mrs. King merely walked past the young men glaring at them.

"To think I helped your mommas change your diapers." She gave them a disapproving 'tsk', clicking her teeth with her tongue and joined Alecta in the car.

"K? Did we just see what we thought we…"

"Uh, yes. Long story. Maybe later."

"Not such a long story. Jake, enough said."

"Victor, how 'bout you and the fellas just give me a little while to work on Lex…it'll be ok."

"Well, K., we wish you luck with that one." The deputy known as Ratliff mumbled scratching the back of his head.

"Funny, Ratliff. If ya'll want to jump in the other trucks, we can take ya'll out to the diner and get something to eat before we go out to the house. Or would you like to head to the house first and unload the luggage and relax for a spell?"

Leaning out the window and yelling Alecta made the decision, "Head to the damned diner first, my tape worm's waking up. Don't let these skinny broads make that kind of decision; are you insane?"

Garcia started laughing so hard. It was the first time she had really laughed _that_ hard since Alecta came into the picture; sure she had giggled here and there, cracked a few jokes…but she hadn't _laughed_ a good hard laugh in weeks. But this had her in stitches. Hell for that matter, even JJ and Prentiss were laughing. Rachel was shaking her head in humor at her mama.

About 15 minutes later the convoy made it through town. It was a small down town area with a lot of quaint little store fronts; mom and pop places to be sure. There was a little local hardware store. There was a bank, the front of which nearly looked out of place; it had huge columns that seemed to touch the sky. It reminded you of a Greek revival sort of style. It was sandwiched in between two less imposing buildings; one looked like a local lawyer's office and the other was a dentist's office judging by the sign above the door…it was an older sign, there was no telling how long it had been up there. There was a small shop that sold infants and children's clothes; it looked like it was pretty expensive stuff, too. There were a few little restaurants; a small little sandwich shop, a decent little dine-in place that, judging by the décor, would be a little more expensive, but still somewhat reasonable.

Near the end of the down town area the group came to a little diner. It was an old cinderblock building, the outside was a little dingy, not badly though. Once inside, they looked around. There were about 15-20 tables that were in the general seating area, there was a bar, with about eight barstools around it, with a register at one end. Behind the bar was a commercial grade refrigerator that held some of the deserts and things. On the opposite end of the bar from the register was a stack of newspapers; some of them were entire editions, some were in sections from where the patrons would take the parts they wanted to read and leave the rest behind. On the wall near the door was an old article in a frame that discussed the opening of the diner under the management of Kevin's parents and the good job that everybody in town thought they were doing. The windows had curtains on them that were red gingham with matching table cloths. The seating along the walls were done with booth style seating, and the few tables in the middle of the floor were done with average table and chairs. There was one booth in the back corner that could seat a larger party, and you still had room to pull up a few extra chairs around the outside. This booth was taken up by a decent sized group of older gentlemen; they were sitting around sipping coffee, and reading bits of the newspaper. Likely they were to blame for the paper skeletons on the counter top at the bar. They had on their various jackets over their short sleeved oxford style work shirts and their navy blue colored work pants. Just about every one of them had on some sort of baseball cap that was advertising something that had probably been out of business for the better part of twenty years. There was a room beyond the general dining that looked like it was the sort of spot that larger groups could gather; it was dark, not being in use at the time.

At some of the other tables were some of the locals that were eating their lunches, not a care in the world about the strange group that had just entered the building.

Alecta looked around and smiled. Seeing this must remind her of the slim few things she missed about being home. She saw a little Hispanic man wandering around the tables in his little apron, checking on the customers. Her smile got bigger.

Leaning over to speak in a whisper to Hotch, 'Watch this.'

"Escobar!"

"Puta?" the man turned to look at where the sound had come from.

"Puta is not my name."

"Yeah, and Escobar isn't mine. Where have you been? I haven't seen you in so long." The little man wiped his hands on his apron and reached out to hug Alecta, which she returned.

"Oh I've been everywhere. Guys this is Esteban Morales. These are my friends from work. We're in town for the old man's birthday."

"Ah, I knew if we got you back here it would be because he gave you the guilt trip. I was right."

"How's Maria and the kids?"

"They are good. How long are you in town for? Maria will want quesadilla night when she finds out you are here. You know, my little one, Yesenia, she is getting tall. She is 10 and already almost as tall as you are."

"The last time I saw even a picture of her, she was in diapers. I will have to call Maria and talk about quesadilla night for sure."

"Bring your friends; God knows we always have enough. I have to get back to the kitchen and help out. Are you staying?"

"Yes. Of course."

Walking over to the bar, Alecta grabbed one of the coffee pots off of the warmer and a dishful of packages of sugar and creamer and walked over to the table load of old men and started topping off their coffees. As she began to pour, the old men looked up and smiled.

"Well, I'll be damned, he did get you to come back didn't he?" one of the old men exclaimed as he wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled Alecta into his lap as she kept pouring for some of the old guys close by.

"Hey Ray. I missed you, too." She put the coffee pot down and wrapped an arm around the old man's neck and gave him a little squeeze. Suddenly the old timers came to live in animated conversation. They all wanted to know where she had been, what she had been up too, why she had stayed away so long, what brought her back. They were firing questions at her as fast as she could answer the one before it. While she was sitting on old Ray's knee she reached over to the plate in front of some other old guy, she called him Horace, and grabbed some of the bacon off of his plate.

"Hey now, young lady…"

"Well old man, order me some food already, I'm starving."

"Lex…"

"Oh snap, I gotta go sit with my friends…don't want them to get lonely." She said as she snatched a piece of sausage off another old guy's plate, causing that old man to smack her on the ass.

"For that, you're buying me a drink later old man." Alecta giggled as she walked away.

Between Alecta, Kevin, and the others they were able to push a few tables and chairs together to make a space big enough for everybody.

Once they got seated, the team looked around some more. There were various pictures up on the walls. Some of them were of local historical land marks; others were of some of the local people over the years. There was a big one surrounded by several other smaller ones on one wall that had a young Kevin and Alecta sharing a swing; they were sitting face to face, both of them holding on to the ropes that held up the swing, their foreheads resting against each other. In the picture, Alecta had a huge smile on her face as if that was the happiest she'd ever been in her life. One of Kevin's arms was around her back to help hold her steady; Alecta's hair tumbling down her back, some of it over his arm, flowing out behind her. There seemed to be a slight breeze according to the movement in the photo.

Alecta and Kevin jumped up from their seats and ran behind the counter and started fixing drinks for everybody. It wasn't long before the food came out.

"We didn't place an order yet,' Rossi mentioned and everyone else seemed in agreement.

"This is what you're getting. It's what Miss 'Ouisa does when she has friends over. She fixes her best fried chicken, mashed potatoes with the brown gravy, the green peas….hey, did she set aside…yes, there they are..cucumbers in vinegar; those are mine, but if you're a good boy, Rossi, I might share. There are a few fresh tomatoes for anyone that wants a tomato sandwich. Ya'll can have those…I don't like soggy bread, no thanks. Ooh! Biscuits, hell yes."

As they sat down, she and Kevin started their assembly line eating again. It was just like the first night that everyone met Kevin. He'd take stuff off of her plate that had made it on there that she didn't really care for. She drank the foam off the top of his glass of soda.

Soon the group was joined by a young man whose name was Jeff, everybody called him Jeffey though. He was Rachel's fiancé. And, as soon as he sat down, he and Rachel started much the same sort of thing. It seemed to run in the family.

Hotch and the team sort of chuckled a bit when, just before she started eating, Alecta poked her belly as if to wake the baby up.

"Now, please let me eat this. It's miss 'Ouisa's fried chicken. I'll love you forever. You can make me sick later if you want, but let me eat the chicken."

"Where are your mom and dad?"

"They are out at the house, putting some finishing touches on. They will be here pretty soon."

Jazzy was sitting on Rachel's knee, eating her piece of chicken and a few mashed potatoes. Sofie was, not surprisingly sitting on Alecta's knee, she was going to town on her food. And Emma was sitting on Kevin's lap taking a drink out of his soda, getting a bit on the tip of her nose and smacked her lips when she was done. Sasha, Eva, and Oleg were sitting to the right of Alecta and they were busy getting their grub on as well. They really liked the food. They hadn't had any fried chicken like this since they were toddlers like Sofie and Emma. And it was just so good to them.

And just as predicted, about another 10 or 20 minutes later, the Easons showed up and got their own plates and sat down. Things were rather uneventful after that. That is until the door opened and a dark cloud descended on the diner.

Looking up, Alecta put her fork down and handed Sofie off to Sasha. Alecta stood slowly, and took an attack stance a few steps from the table.

"I heard you were back in town, just had to come see it myself. The rumors are true then. Are those my grandchildren? Would ya look at that."

The large man began to step toward the table; Alecta was not backing down, she shoved him back a bit.

"You can't stop me from seeing my grandchildren. I will see them you know?"

Alecta did the first thing that popped into her head. She grabbed a knife off of a table close by, and stabbed it through her father's hand and it stuck into the table.

"If you ever come near my kids again, it won't be your hand that I stab the next time."

With that she turned around and went back to the table and announced that it was time to go. Since everyone was basically done eating anyway it wasn't that big of a deal to pick up and leave. Kevin put himself between Alecta and her father as they walked past him to leave; Rossi kept her mother to his side, as far away from the man as he could get her, and stared him down as they went past. And of course Hotch and Morgan both gave him their best stony glares.

On the edge of town the convoy pulled off onto a dirt road and drove for another one or two miles down that. As they turned onto the road, there was an old rundown shack on the left, Alecta practically had to crane her neck to keep it in sight as they went past; soon enough she was sitting back in her seat, just as quiet as ever and stared out of her passenger window. There were corn fields on one side, with tobacco growing on the other. It seemed to be a good year for both. Everything was green and crisp.

There was some acreage that had woods on it scattered throughout the drive. There was a fork in the road; Kevin, leading the parade, took the right fork. Looking out across some of the open fields that led back to the left, you could see large oak trees that grew sporadically here and there. Soon they came to a stretch of the road that became tree lined, oaks and pines jockeying for dominance along the route. And soon they saw it. The house. It was huge. There were two groupings of four enormous columns that were separated by some steps up to the porch. The porch was elevated, there was a cellar to the house as the first floor. As the porch expanded, there were more columns that lined it, with railing between. There was a second story porch as well; both porches seemed to wrap around nearly the entire house, or at the very least ¾ of it, with the second story porch being screened in. the house was brick, old brick, you could tell just by looking at it. The yard was nicely manicured, not fancy, but neat; they let the house speak for itself. The house was done in an antebellum style mostly, but there were hints of Colonial here and there if you paid attention. The drive way curved around in front of the house.

Pulling to a stop, everyone got out and began getting their bags out of the trucks.

"God lord Davis, you didn't tell us you had money like this."

Chuckling, "And this is actually just the back of the house, you haven't even seen the front. In the old days when the house was originally built, the true front faced the river. When we go in, you will be able to still look out and see it."

"And this is your house, right Kevin?"

"Yes sir, Agent Rossi. To get to Lex's old house, you would have made that left at the fork in the road. And that old shack up at the top of the road…that belonged to the Gatling's that we told you about."

Within a few minutes, everyone was given a tour of the house and shown to their rooms.

As it turned out there were 10 bedrooms and six bathrooms.

Hotch and Rossi were bunking in the same room, there were two king sized beds in there. The same for Morgan and Garcia, they would share a room; after some of the things Morgan had learned over the past couple of weeks, he felt a whole lot better about being able to stay close to Garcia while they were here. All four of them would be sharing a bathroom. Then Reid and Prentiss were sharing a room, as well as JJ and Will, and the four of them shared a bathroom as well. Sasha and Eva had their own room, and they shared a bathroom with Oleg who had his own room. Sofie, Emma, Jazzy, Jack, and Henry were all in a room together, courtesy of some bunk beds that were in that room. Sofie and Emma took one set of bunks, Jack and Henry took the other; and Jazzy had a big double bed all to herself. She didn't have to share with anyone.

With the exception of the children's room, all of the bedrooms came with two king sized beds, and each room had their own fire place, although it looked as though the Easons had tricked out the fire places with some sort of gas logs.

Kevin got his own room, as did Alecta, though they shared a bathroom. And then there was Kevin's parent's room and restroom.

The bathrooms were all fitted with retro touches; small tiles on the floor in a black and white pattern, likely installed in the 1930's. The sinks looked like they were straight out of the 30's or 40's as well, with silver and white fixtures on them; claw foot tubs, with the 'gooseneck' shower heads. Behind the tubs were little windows that allowed the bather to look out onto the open acreage below with stained glass in the transoms above. Everything was so…it was simple, yet elegant all at the same time. It's as if the Easons didn't work too hard to decorate the house, they let the house do all the work for them, and it worked.

Everyone was getting settled into their rooms and picking out who was getting which bed. Once that was done they began heading down stairs.

"Where's Davis?" Reid asked as curiosity got the better of him.

"She's probably in the ball room,' Kevin stated matter of factly.

"Dude, you have a ball room in this joint?"

"Yes Agent Prentiss. It's not huge, but it was original to the house. A lot of the older homes in the area had them. It would hold about 50-75 people at a time. You should go see it, you'll love it as much as she does." Mrs. 'Ouisa smiled with pride over the idea of her ball room.

Instead of going straight to the ball room, everyone sat around and got some drinks. It wasn't until about 15 minutes later when Alecta still hadn't come to join everyone else that Hotch went looking for her. Going up the stairs, several feet down the hall on the right, there was a double archway that was the hiding place of two pocket doors that just so happened to be opened. He stopped in the door way and saw her. She was standing there, admiring a double portrait. As he entered the room he cleared his throat a bit.

"Oh, hey. Why does it not surprise me that you were the one that came looking for me?" Alecta asked as she jumped a bit.

"What's the story behind this painting?"

"It's a rare double portrait. The artist was somewhat local. Local for our times; back in the 1780 or 1790's when this was originally painted, the artist lived about one or two towns over, and that was a big deal. He would have had to travel by horse drawn carriage to get here. And of course supplies weren't cheap back then for some people."

"Who are they? They look just exactly like you and Kevin."

"The man's name was Ezra, and the woman's name was Abigail. One of them was his ancestor, one was mine. I'll let you puzzle over which one is which."

"And yet, the two of you were planning on getting married or something at one time."

"Oh don't sound so shocked. You're from Virginia. You may be 'city people', but I know you come from some kind of old money, ya'll have this, too. Everybody in this town is related by blood or marriage, no shocker there. The entire county only has about 12,000 people in it. That doesn't even equal ¼ of the population of the DC/metro area on its own. The population hasn't fluctuated much in close to 300 years. Our families have married and dispersed several times over the generations."

"What do you come in here for?"

"Well for one it is one of my favorite rooms in the house. And for another, I like to stop and say hello, and pay my respects. It's been ages since they last saw me, and I them."

"They can't _see_ anything. It's a painting. They've passed away a long time ago."

About the time that Hotch got the last words out of his mouth, a medium sized wooden trinket box flew off of the mantle and hit the floor, although it did not break.

Looking at him slyly, "Apologize."

"Say what?"

"Yeah, if you want a peaceful night's sleep in this house, you better apologize. Abigail is none too happy with you right now."

"How do you know it was her?"

"Well she likes to throw things; I guess this is where I get the knack for that from. Ezra would have merely smacked you for besmirching him. Apologize."

"Who should I apologize to?"

"Well to Abigail for one. But she would call it even Stevens if you just apologize to me for thinking I made the story up."

"Oh really?"

"Yes. If you don't you'll be sorry."

"How sorry?"

"How do you like waking up on the floor?" Alecta snickered as she walked out of the ballroom, 'remember, apologize."

Of course as she made her way down the hall, Hotch leaned over and picked up the ancient box and placed it back on the mantel, thinking to himself '_they don't make 'em like that anymore'_. But then he wasn't sure if his thought was about the box, the mantel, or Alecta. His own thoughts were becoming confused. _Great._ She was going to keep him unsteady on his own two feet. Quickly and quietly he made his apologies to Lady Abigail and made his way down the hall to the top of the stairs. It wasn't that he necessarily believed what Lex was telling him, but he didn't like the sound of being shoved out of bed by an angry woman that had been dead over 200 years either. He just didn't want to test the theory out.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: So here's chapter 2. We left off in chapter one with Hotch picking up the box that had hit the floor and actually **

As he came down stairs he saw Alecta sitting in this deco style club chair, eating some oatmeal cookies and drinking her orange juice; she was grinning at him with a wicked gleam in her eye. She knew he apologized. That little imp.

Prentiss asked her why she was so hooked on the oatmeal cookie/orange juice combo.

"In pre-school, they used to give this to us as one of our morning snacks. Oatmeal cookies and orange juice, was the best snack EVER. Most of us had to go to preschool early in the morning, so by like 9 am, they had to find a way to keep us quiet, what better way to shut a kid up than to give them cookies. I've been addicted ever since." With that she took a bite out of a cookie and let Emma take the next bite off of the same cookie while she let Sofie have some of her juice.

They had a couple of good hours before it would be dinner time, so the kids went to play outside.

"Just stay back from the river. If you take the little ones down there, DO NOT under any circumstances take your eyes off of them. Do you understand?" Alecta gave instructions to Rachel and her other children.

"Yes momma, of course."

"But if I was being completely honest, I would prefer for you to stay away from the river, at least for now."

"Mom. It's ok, I've got this." Rachel knew why her momma feared the river. She had heard the stories about Jake's 'fishing trips' on the river, and how he kept her under water so long. And she had heard the stories about all the lives lost on the river over the generations since the area had been settled.

Mostly the kids hit the trampoline and played, or the swing set that was there. As the time passed, Kevin's deputies showed up one by one, bringing their kids and significant others.

Alecta had been out in the yard playing with her kids as well as Jack and Henry when she noticed the arrivals.

"What the hell…." She asked as she approached the house and saw Kevin and his dad standing out on the porch.

"They come over for dinner all the time. We have a crowd."

"Mrs. 'Ouisa, I'm sorry but I won't be joining you for dinner tonight." Alecta muttered as she went into the house.

"Seriously."

"Spurlock, ya'll were mean as hell to her back in the day, you think she's just supposed to roll over and forget that? That she's supposed to want to kiss and make up? You don't get it do you?"

Kevin wanted to go find her but his dad put a hand on his shoulder to stop him and asked him to give her a little time.

"Where has she gone, I can see if she'll talk to me."

"She's in the cupola on the roof. But she won't talk to you Hotch. Not right now, she's just too damned angry."

"I'll go,' voiced Reid. "She's mad at me anyway, but for an altogether different reason and it may take her mind off of it."

"It's worth a try." Kevin shrugged.

"I better go ahead and start on dinner. It'll be storming soon. Ya'll better play while you can." With that Mrs. 'Ouisa walked back into the house and got busy getting dinner started; Mrs. King went with her to help out.

"Oh dear, with both of them cooking, we'll be lucky if we run out food this time next week." Mr. Dan'el commented wryly.

"We heard that old man." Mrs. 'Ouisa's voice could be heard floating through a window.

In the meantime, everyone had gone inside and settled down in the living room; including Mrs. 'Ouisa and Mrs. King, taking a break from the cooking.

Ten minutes later, Reid came back down with a puzzled look on his face.

"What's wrong pretty boy? She shot you down."

"Actually, yes. The door was locked. She wouldn't even listen to reason."

"Welcome to my world. Keep your head, hands, and feet inside at all times while the vehicle is in motion." Kevin replied smartly.

"It's ok. We got Chaz coming over a little later, she'll listen to her."

"Who's Chaz?"

Mrs. 'Ouisa looked over to JJ, 'Chaz is Lex's sister-in-law."

"Lex has a brother? She never mentioned it."

"Agent Prentiss…"

"You can call me Emily, Mrs. 'Ouisa."

"Emily. She wouldn't mention him. He's a lot like their father….abusive. You know how they say 'the apple doesn't fall very far from the tree'…they were talking about Jax. Alecta didn't even know about him 'til around the time that Chaz married him. His momma was some tramp from the next town over I think. Somebody that Jake frequented, if you catch my drift. Alecta and Jax never met, until Chaz brought them together just before the marriage took place. They look alike, except Jax is a man, and is quite a bit taller than Lex. It's almost spooky."

"Yeah, Chaz said that at first he was a great guy, and then one day he woke up and it was like the Jax she knew was replaced by the devil." Mr. Dan'el filled in. "After a couple of years of marriage, Chaz needed out. He was going to kill her if things kept getting anyworse. Lex helped get her out, and made sure that Jax stayed away from her and the kid."

"And when Lex was finally able to get away from Fletcher, Chaz flew out to get her. Victor flew the plane. It took about two days to make the arrangements. This is a small town, we woulda been down two deputies. We had to wait for some help to arrive." Mrs. 'Ouisa explains.

"By the time we got there, we were too late. Chaz and I ran to the room that she told us she would be in, and not only was she gone, but everything was destroyed. He'd beaten us to her. We had to go get her from the hospital. Luckily, one of her 'friends', a guy that said we could just call him 'George', realized who we were and what we were doing there. He let us sign release papers for her and take her on to the air strip. In all truth, she should have stayed in the hospital for a few more days. She was still unconscious when we got to her. She doesn't even really remember how she got to Quantico. 'George' gave us an address that we were to take her too. I flew them out there, dropped them off. A woman that called herself 'Solange' met us at the address, she was with another woman and a rather large man. They took us with them into whatever the building was and showed us that she was going to be well cared for and sent us on our way."

"That person calling herself 'Solange', did she look remarkably like Alecta, with dark hair and eyes?"

"Why yes she did. Why do you ask Dr. Reid?"

"Victor, 'Solange' was a young French woman who was a sheperdess that that was beheaded when she denied the advances of a young man who tried to rape her. She is one of 10 known patron saints of rape victims/survivors. It's likely that this person was actually Alecta's friend, Cossette. Cossette was a girl that Alecta met when she was being held by a human trafficking ring. They have been close ever since. Cossette was French, like Solange. Likely the group didn't want you knowing who they were. It's safer for them that way…and for you, if someone looking for one of them ever came after you."

Alecta had since come down the stairs, and was standing just out of sight, hiding in the hall, listening. Victor had flown the plane that brought Chaz to save her? This gave Alecta pause; she didn't know what to do with the information. She didn't have long to think on it, because at about that time the door opened, and in walked Chaz and her little girl, Dare.

"An' Lessa!' the little girl squealed.

Busted!

"Hey baby." Alecta turned and scooped the little girl up, playing along as if she hadn't been scared out of her skin; she leaned over and hugged Chaz as she caught up to her daughter.

As Alecta came into the living room where everyone had congregated with a little girl in her arms, the child's arms wrapped around her neck, talking animatedly about some craziness and twirling one of Alecta's curls around and around her little finger. This little girl looked as much like Alecta as Sofie and Emma did.

"So, did you have time to do some thinking baby?"

"Yeah." Alecta answered quietly. She walked over to where Victor was standing near a window with his son, Niko; and as Victor turned to face her, 'You…flew the plane?"

Victor answered 'yes' as he saw the puzzled look in her eyes.

With a wavering voice, 'I'm sorry I was so mean to you when you first showed up."

"Nah. I deserved it. Even Stephens?"

"Sure, why not."

"Thank God that's resolved!" Kevin muttered exasperated.

"Who is this little girl?"

"Mr., I'm not little, I'm four."

"Morgan just got served."

"Keep laughing Prentiss."

"Dare, behave."

"He called me little."

"So, your name is Dare?"

"Uh-huh, sure is. Ashully, mommy called me after An' Lessa. Most e'erybody calls me '2' though."

"That's an odd nickname for a kid."

"Well, what kinda name is Morgan?"

The little girl had folded her arms across her chest and had a determined look on her face that was all over Alecta.

"Dare!"

"Mommy?"

"Be nice."

"Do I have to?"

"Seriously, you have to ask that question? Do you wanna go take a nap before dinner?"

"I sorry mommy. I'l be nice. But for real….what kinda name is Morgan?"

"It's my last name."

"What's your first one?"

"Derek."

"It'll do."

"Well, my momma will be happy to hear that you like it."

"Good to kn…an' Lessa, who that?"

"Those are my little girls; Sofie and Emma."

"And who's them,' the little girl pointed at the three nearly grown children.

"Those are my big kids….Sasha, Eva, and Oleg."

"Um-k. Can we go play before dinner?"

Mrs. 'Ouisa told the little girl it was alright with her; Alecta put her down and she ran over to Sofie and Emma.

"You wantsta play? Who are those boys?" Dare asked Sofie and Emma.

"Oh, this older boy…that's Jack. His daddy is that tall guy just there…." Sofie started off.

Emma picked up the introductions, 'This boy with the yellow hair….that's Henwy. His mommy and daddy are over there."

"Yeah, well that's my boy Niko. His daddy is Bictor, o'er there. And then there's Zane…Ratliff is his daddy…their mommies should be here later. They hadda work." Turning to Jack, 'Where's your mommy?"

"Dare! You have no business asking Jack that yet."

"Sowwy."

"It's ok. My mommy died a few years ago. A bad guy made her go away."

Dare sniffed, 'I'm sowwy."

"But my daddy made the bad guy go away, so it's kind of better now."

Looking at Hotch, 'You did?"

Hotch nodded. Dare ran to him and hugged him around the legs.

"If you help an' Lessa I give you my allowance for a month, Mr."

"Dare, really? Don't you think you should go play now?"

"Gotta go Mr." Dare ran past Sofie and Emma, grabbing their hands and pulling them along with her, 'come on boys."

The four little boys went running as Dare explained that there would be more kids joining their little clique later. It seemed as though Esteban and Maria would be coming and bringing their three children. And some of Kevin's aunts and uncles would be coming by; they had a few kids that were the ages of Sasha, Eva, and Oleg. Mrs. 'Ouisa said that they may plan to have some of Mrs. King's family (brothers and sisters, etc.) come over one day while everyone was there. But that had to be done a bit more delicately; most everybody thought she was dead.

The children had run back outside to play. They had found an old ball and were kicking it around; it wasn't really an organized game, but it kept them busy. They played on the swing set and trampoline. The parents inside were grateful they were playing so hard; this meant that they would sleep like crazy when bed time hit.

Mrs. 'Ouisa and Mrs. King got back into the kitchen and went back to cooking dinner. Mrs. 'Ouisa was frying the cat fish, and Mrs. King was making some grilled chicken in case there were people there that didn't care for the fish. Rachel and Lex went in to help with making the side dishes.

"Should any of us go in and help?" JJ asked, trying to be polite.

"Are you crazy? Three generations of women from the same family, in the kitchen cooking at the same time. You're safer out here. " Mr. Dan'el informed her.

"They're going to fight?"

"Oh no sir; in the south, cooking is like an Olympic sport. You have relays and timed events. They have a system worked out. And adding another member to the team must be done carefully or it throws off the whole balance." Kevin corrected poor Reid's thinking.

"But Davis has been gone for about 25 years. And has Rachel ever been here?"

"Time doesn't matter. Lex was raised around these ways. And Rachel inherited it. It is what it is Emily."

There was a clanking of dishes and utensils in the kitchen. Then there was a yelled, 'Boy get in here, wash up, and set the table' that came from Mrs. 'Ouisa; at which time Kevin obediently stood and went into the kitchen and did exactly as his mother instructed him to do.

The kitchen table was huge it was a long and rectangular, once it had likely been a lovely oak finish, but it had seen years of wear and tear. It was still shiny in places, but some of the finish had worn off. You could see on the legs of the table, a wear pattern after years of having children's feet all over it. It comfortably sat everyone. The small children had a smaller child sized table set up for them. But just like every other time they would probably wind up at the adults table, sitting on someone's lap.

After Kevin got the dishes all laid out on the table, working around the women as they sat the food down lining the center of it all, Mrs. King went to the door and called for everyone to come into the kitchen and eat. When they came in, they saw enough food to feed the National Guard.

The meal took about an hour to get through. And during the meal, the storm that Mrs. 'Ouisa had promised came to fruition. There were loud claps of thunder; bright lightening that seemed all the more so due to the wide open spaces. As soon as it became apparent that dinner was winding down, both Rachel's as well as Mrs. 'Ouisa and Alecta began clearing the table; they were putting extra food away. The clean-up was much like watching Kevin and Alecta eating…it was very much an assembly line. One person would scoop the extra food out of the original dish and take the storage container of food to the fridge. One person would wash, another would dry, and then yet another would put away the clean stuff. There was a dish washer, but they chose not to use it.

"Um. Why don't they use the dish washer?"

"Reid, hush. Finish your dinner, we ain't gonna be at this all night."

Alecta had been busting his ass since they were on the plane. Of course, once she saw the look on his face when she called him out, she felt sort of bad for being so snippy. As the cleaning process came to an end, everyone made their way back into the living room. Seeing Reid taking his time, admiring the house's architecture as he went, Alecta had an idea.

"Reid, come here!" Alecta whispered, sort of, and grabbed his hand. Hotch and the team turned to see what was going on. To tell the truth, they sort of feared for Reid's life, after the way Alecta had been treating him all day.

"Where are you dragging me, Davis?"

"Hush and enjoy it will ya?"

"Hotch….shouldn't we follow them?"

Hotch looked at Morgan with an arched eyebrow. Kevin sat down and was chuckling.

From somewhere about the middle of the stair case they hear, 'Oh shut up. I'm not gonna kill him or anything. Gah; too many witnesses."

After two flights of stairs, if not three, they came to a door that was closed. Alecta unlocked it with a skeleton key, a loud clicking of the locking mechanism signaling that it could be opened. Alecta reached out her little hand and grasped the white porcelain doorknob, the sash of which was black iron, and turned it, causing a slight squeaking sound…but she paused.

Turning to Reid, 'Whatever you see in here, don't freak out. Nothing bad will happen, I promise. It's just….a bit…strange. And some people have issues with it. But, I promise, nothing bad will happen."

The storm outside was still raging as hard as ever when she led him into the small cupola. This was where she had come to hide earlier. Looking around, Reid could see a day bed of sorts it was wedged in there. It was very much the style of the late 18th century, even venturing into the early 19th century. The space for it was only about 4 ½ - 5 feet across, from corner to corner behind the day bed. The cupola itself couldn't have been more than about 8sq. ft. The space that was behind the day bed and wrapping around the cupola (until you reached the bit where the door was) was mostly windows. They started at about two feet up from the floor and went to an equal distance of about two feet from the ceiling of the room, giving them a height of approximately six feet, with the distance between floor and ceiling being around 10ft. There was a small table in front of one of the windows, sort of adjacent to the daybed. There was a small lamp that gave off dim light on the table, it was plugged in below. There was a very low slung shelf, running the length of the baseboard that held a few books scattered carelessly along its length.

"What is it that you wanted to show me?" Reid asked, not in a moody way. If anything he really liked this room.

"Just sit here,' Alecta shoved him onto the day bed, into the back corner, 'and watch the show."

Sitting beside of Reid, on the outer edge of the bed, Alecta leaned over the rolled arm of the bed, she pointed out to him that the windows were single pane and they were original, and they were foggy.

"Yes. What's the point of all of this?"

"Just be a good boy, and watch. Please."

Carefully, with the index finger of her right hand, Alecta wrote out the words 'Constance, are you there?'

Expectantly she looked over to Reid who began to say something, but Alecta placed the first three fingers of her left hand against his mouth to signal him to be quiet. In just a matter of a few seconds, Reid heard the unmistakable sounds of another finger making marks against another window pane, the squeaking sound that you would hear if you were using a squeegee to dry one off. Between the stormy skies outside and the dim light in the little room, Reid began to see words forming in response to Alecta's written question.

The response said simply, 'As always'.

"What the hell is that?"

"If I tell you will you do your best to believe me?"

Reid only nodded; he knew this was far beyond him. He was a man largely of science. He knew that other people have various beliefs on a wide range of topics. Normally he didn't believe in ghosts and things like that. Usually those things could be explained away; magnetic fields, electrical currents, etc. But for what he just saw, he wasn't sure how to explain that.

"Her name was Constance. Hotch met her sister Abigail earlier. Abigail lived here with her husband Ezra. Constance lived…she lived in my old house with her husband, Virgil. In those days, most of the wealthy families around here, including our two families, owned a lot of property. They farmed and then they would sell some of what they harvested here in town, or they would load it onto ships and carry it on the river to the next town or even into the next state if that's where the business took them. Well the story goes that Virgil's business was going to take him out of town on the river. He was to be gone for about two weeks or so. While he was gone, Constance, who was 25 at the time, came to stay here with her sister and brother-in-law. Constance and Virgil had been married when they were about 17, that was normal back then, just like her sister Abigail. By the time she was staying here, waiting on Virgil to return home, she had four children…small ones at that. The day he was set to return, there was a storm, much like this one, if not worse. It tossed the ship that Virgil and many others were on….tossed it around like it was a child's toy. Soon, the ship was driven into some debris in the river…I guess some log or something sticking out of the water….the ship hit hard enough that it started taking on water and sinking. Many men died that day; including Virgil. Constance waited and waited to hear from him or about him. It took days to sift through the wreckage that could be found. As it turns out, nearly all hands died. There had been a crew… just a crew of nearly 20…and then when you factor in the businessmen, like Virgil, there were 25 more of them onboard. Nearly all of them perished. There were only three survivors. They never found Virgil's body. Most seem to believe he just washed down river and was trapped under some underbrush and never found. All I do know is that Constance couldn't take it. She stayed in this room, waiting to see her husband come up the dock, just out there.' Pointing to the sight of the river out of the window, 'she waited, and waited…for so many days. She never really ate much. When she died it was from hunger and exhaustion. She just dropped. And now, nearly 250 years later…she's still here, in this room. I haven't talked to her in a long time. I used to come up here and watch the storms with her. She probably won't have much to say tonight, because she doesn't know who you are, but she is a talkative one."

"How can you expect me to believe this, what you tell me?"

"Constance? He needs proof."

Feeling the hairs on the back of his neck standing up, Reid looked over towards the door. As he looked on in disbelief, there appeared a woman. She was tall, but her bone structure was delicate. She had blonde hair, blue eyes, and pale skin. She was lovely. Her dress was a vibrant blue in the Regency style that had been popular in the early 19th century, but it was still very much an informal dress. Her hair was pulled back, most of it being in a twist, with a few curls hanging loose at the back and around her face ever so lightly. She looked like a porcelain doll; she looked for all the world like a collectable Bisque doll that you would see in an antique shop somewhere.

"Does he believe us now?" Reid heard the young woman ask.

"Holy…."

"Watch your language Reid. You'll make her blush."

"What's your first name?" Constance asked him.

"Spencer."

"Like the poet?"

"Yes."

"Your mother liked The Faerie Queene, am I right?"

"Very much so."

"She sounds fascinating."

"Constance, how are you today?"

"Still no word. I haven't heard anything in days. I must know something soon. I really must."

Alecta could tell Constance would start getting worked up again….if she did, they would have to buy a new lamp for the room.

"I'm sure word will come soon. Just give it time. You know how these things are. Look, we have to go back downstairs with the others, but I can come back tomorrow if you like."

"Would you, it gets so lonely up here by myself."

"Of course. Do you want me to bring Spencer, or anyone else?"

"Anybody will be good enough for me. And bring some cards, we shall have a game."

Alecta and Reid had gotten up from their seat and begun to leave, Alecta turned back to agree with Constance about the upcoming card game. As soon as Constance saw Alecta shake her head in the positive, she vanished.

Going down the stairs, heading back to the living room, 'Now do you believe what I said on the plane?"

"I think that I do. Tell me…how much of this town is haunted?"

"The easier question to answer would be, what areas _ARE NOT_ haunted. That wouldn't take nearly as long to explain."


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: So, my pal Virginia seemed to like chapter 2 quite well. So here's chapter 3. Hopefully it's at least as good, if not better. Ya'll met Constance. There's a chance she will appear again in chapter 3, depends on the direction the chapter takes. I know in my story 'What Now?' I introduced another spectral character, Daniel…at some point in this story I DO intend for him to come back; and when he does it'll be a doozy (I hope).**

Around nine o'clock the kids started going to bed, the guests started leaving. Niko was sacked out on his father's shoulder, his mother-Zoe was placing his jacket over him gently so as not to wake him.

The children had played hard; running up and down stairs all night, playing hide and go seek with Sasha, Eva, and Oleg, as well as some of the other more grown kids. Jazzy was crapped out asleep on Rachel's lap, sprawled out in a way that only a toddler can be. Sofie and Emma were crawling up in Alecta's lap, each girl settling on a hip, their eyes droopy from being so tired. Emma gave a monstrous yawn, rubbing her nose with her little curled up hand. Alecta wrapped an arm around each little girl, rubbing their backs. Dare, or 2, as she made it clear she preferred, was curled up asleep, resting her head against Chaz's chest, sucking on her thumb, some of her hair tumbling over to cover her face.

Once Alecta realized the twins were asleep she figured it was time to get up and try to put them to bed. With two children in her grasp, she was having some trouble standing though; Hotch walked over and offered to take one of the girls.

"Uh, no thanks. If I jostle them much at all they will wake up. And YOU will get the joy of trying to make them go back to sleep."

"Well at least let me help you stand."

"Very well." Alecta took the offered hand that he placed on her elbow and helped her retain her balance. He followed her up the stairs to the room she was going to put the girls in.

"Can you hand me their little suitcase please? I have to get them into their jammies. This should be fun."

As Hotch brought over the little case as Alecta asked, she got the kids settled on the floor. There she could spread out and actually manage moving the kids around without too much trouble. She took out a little short sleeved t-shirt styled gown with one of the 'seven dwarves' on it; it was grumpy. The words on the front of it said, 'Not a morning person doesn't even begin to cover it'.

"Sofie?"

"How'd ya guess?"

She got the little girl out of her play clothes that she'd had on all day and slipped her pajamas on; next she placed her in her little bed on the bottom bunk and covered her up with just a sheet and a light blanket. Then, with Sofie being seen to, she turned her attentions to Emma. Her little night gown was a retro thing that advertised 'Rainbow Brite'.

"They are totally different people aren't they?"

"Yes sir, they are that…it's funny how much like me they are though. Sometimes it's just sort of spooky."

After she got Emma changed and into her own little bed, Alecta leaned against the bed, quite tired herself. She would have gladly closed her eyes and slept right there in that position if Hotch hadn't made a sound.

"What did you say?" Alecta blinked heavily a couple of times looking in Hotch's direction.

"I said it sounds like you've had enough excitement for one day. Let me help you up."

"Ok, but if you pick me up one more time, we go together. I can walk."

Hotch let her have her way, she walked out of the room. As it turned out everyone was making their ways up the stairs. The dinner guests were finally all gone, except for Chaz and 2. They were staying the night. Drowsily, Alecta told Chaz she could put 2 in the room with the twins, and Rachel was heading that way with Jazzy.

"What about Jack and Henry?" Alecta thought suddenly.

"Jack's old enough to get himself ready for bed, he said so weeks ago. And JJ has Henry taken care of."

He saw how unsteady on her feet Alecta was becoming; she was just so tired. She had had a pretty eventful day. They had flown into her home town; she had to face down her father already. She came face to face with one of her worst tormentors besides Jake, and found out that he had actually turned into a rather decent young man despite her misgivings. There was a lot for her to take in. Not to mention all the things that had happened in the last couple of weeks on top of everything. Running in to her estranged husband. Husband number 1 coming back from the dead; ditto for her mother. Watching estranged husband #2 being shot. Losing one of her very best friends in the world in Theo. And being sick and pregnant on top of her other issues. It had been a rough couple of weeks for Alecta. She got to her bedroom door and just stood there looking at it like it was a foreign thing.

"Davis, you have to turn the knob to make it work." Rossi was trying to be a smart ass to get a rise out of her. She didn't even seem to notice.

"Davis?" Morgan was worried.

"Ah hell, she actually fell asleep standing up again. That hasn't happened in a long time." Kevin said with just the slightest touch of humor in his voice.

Hotch walked over, damned the consequences, and scooped her up as he opened the door. If she really was asleep, she'd likely never remember what she said to him earlier as she put the girls to bed, and with any luck she would never remember how she got into bed. Being a gentleman he neglected to change her into her pajamas. If she did wake up, she could severely injure him, depending on what thoughts were going through her mind at the time. Besides, he had already walked into one door today; he wasn't sure what his composure would be if he had tried to help her change. He was Aaron Hotchner. He had to remain unreadable. And he would be completely transparent if he wasn't careful around her.

He laid her in the bed and pulled the covers up over her; she was out cold. Hotch had to admit; when she was quiet and not a riot of activity and you actually got to look at her she was quite attractive. In her relaxed state she seemed younger than she appeared during 'business' hours. Awake and alert, she was always moving; she always had something to say. She never stopped. And being an insomniac at the best of times….it was hard to remember sometimes that Alecta wasn't yet 40, she was awfully close, but still not there yet.

In this relaxed state she really did look remarkably like Sofie and Emma and even a good deal like 2 (Dare). The same rosy pink lips, that even in sleep looked like they would start speaking any minute. The small rounded nose, the big saucer like eyes. Hotch couldn't get over the difference between 'awake Lex' and 'sleeping Lex'. Eventually he had to snap out of it or they were liable to send a search party. Hotch walked out into the hall to make his way to the room that he was sharing with Rossi; as he made his way out of Lex's room he could see Rossi leaning out of the door to their room with a smirk on his face.

"Don't even start old man."

Both men went into the room and got changed into their pajamas and settled in for the night.

The next morning Alecta got up around 10AM and realized that everyone else was already up.

"Why didn't somebody wake me up?"

"Baby, you were kidnapped. You're pregnant. And you're still getting over your touch of pneumonia. You needed your rest."

"Mom."

"Lex, you fell asleep standing up last night, just outside your bedroom door."

"Whatever. Still, why didn't somebody wake me up?"

"Sugar, you have slept through hard thunderstorms and, if memory serves, the odd tornado or hurricane…Wake you up? With what?"

"Oh, Pops, it's not that bad."

"Sure. Whatever you say doll face."

"Do you want breakfast?"

"Yes please, just…um…No eggs, yeah."

"You got it doll. French toast?"

"No, I don't think so. I can't usually take anything too sweet on an empty stomach. Ooh! BLT?"

"Simple enough; one BLT coming up. You still take your tomato between the lettuce and the bacon don't you?"

"Of course…can't have the sandwich getting all soggy on me can I? Thanx Mrs. 'Ouisa."

Hotch had noticed that before Alecta had come downstairs she had changed out of the clothes that she had worn yesterday. Right now she was wearing a little pair of rosy pink track shorts and a pink/brown camouflage tank top layered over a pink camisole style top. It was official; she was out to kill him.

Alecta flopped down on the sofa where her mother was sitting, she laid her head in her mom's lap and was sitting there talking to her. Every once in a while she would raise one of her legs and her mom would grasp her by the soles and help her stretch. Hotch took the time to excuse himself to brush his teeth; he left the room to the sound of Rossi trying to stifle laughter. By the time Hotch made it back downstairs Alecta had put on a hoodie over her ensemble and was eating; she glanced up at him and smirked with a devilish gleam in her eye and continued right on as if nothing had happened. That little shit would be the death of him, Hotch was sure of that.

Mr. Dan'el had talked with Morgan and Garcia and told them about some areas that were safe to take walks around.

"You can go pretty much anywhere you please. But stay away from the old King place. Nobody much goes there anymore; the last I was over there it was getting a bit over grown and all. But with that no account son of a bitch being loose, I just don't want you going near the place. I don't know what he's up to, but he's never been anything but trouble. So stay away from that place just on the off chance he would show up. You can go to the stables; we have a shit load of horses. Some of them are descended from horses that Lex gave us when she fled. There's only one that I suggest you don't try to ride. Bubba. He's not a people person. We've had him for months, trying to get him broken in and trained, but he isn't having it. But that isn't a huge surprise. He comes from a long line of stubborn ass mules. He's just like his father, and the one before him and the one before that. So he's fourth generation pain in the ass. I'll have to get Lex out to see him sometime this afternoon. You can walk around in some of the woods, just stick to the trails and you should be alright."

"Warn them about the marsh Pops." Lex took her last bite of sandwich and took a drink of her tea.

"Oh yeah. Dead Water Marsh….stay away from it. Once you start getting close there will be signs up warning you."

"What's up with Dead Water Marsh?"

"Nothing much, except to say that even since the early days of European settlement, not even the local Native Americans would venture into the marsh. They always had a notion that it was no good. A lot of people have either been killed in it or near it; or the body was tossed there later…."

Alecta got up, going over to where Morgan and Garcia were standing, making her way to the door, "Think 'Pet Sematary' except without that mangy ass cat and that creepy little boy."

"Nice."

"Totally. Once, ok, several times I made the mistake of wandering down there. If the spooks don't get to you on your journey, then, by the time you get to the marsh….if you happen to wind up _**in**_ it the odds and ends of skeletal remains that you bump into will."

"You're a liar."

"Emily Prentiss, are you calling me out…"

"Em, she's for real." Reid tried to quietly warn.

"Yes, as a matter of fact. I am."

"Oh somebody ate her 'Bitchy Flakes' this morning. Fine, you're coming with me Princess." Alecta was already pulling on some little white tennis shoes, and lifting one leg at a time to tie them while she stood on the opposite leg. "Stop stalling. Bring your ass on. And it'll be ever so much more interesting. I'm preggers, and spirits tend to be overly sensitive to that sort of thing. They will practically _**jump**_ out of the marsh to greet us."

As Prentiss followed Alecta to the stables, she began to question the sanity that had graced her when she called Alecta a liar. Alecta had zipped up the hoodie, and suggested that Emily wear a light jacket over her arms, 'Where we will be riding, there may be branches and things that will scratch at you….just better to be safe than sorry."

"Pops, where is this horse of mine you were going on about."

"I don't suggest trying him out on this particular trip. He's unstable as it is, and taking him down to Dead Water….that's insane. You're pregnant, he's out of his mind, and that place….ah hell you're both a little to the left of normal. Follow me."

Mr. Dan'el showed her to the horse; he was huge. Bubba was a giant Clydesdale/Shire mix. While most standards of either breed stood at approximately 16-18 hands at the shoulders (which is equal to roughly 6'), Bubba was an impressive 20 hands, or a full 8 inches taller than most. And although Clydesdales and Shires were typically draught horses, used for heavy working conditions, Bubba was actually quite fast. Mr. Dan'el and some of his stable hands had turned Bubba loose in the corral one day to clock his speed, he was as fast as just about any Quarter Horse in the area. He was inky black, shiny, beautiful. He was midnight, without all the stars messing up the view. But he was a wild one. Nobody, none of the stable hands, not even Kevin had been able to stay on him for more than 3 minutes at most. He threw everybody he came into contact with. They picked a much safer, yet still quite capable horse for Prentiss. She got the one they affectionately called 'Pooky', she was a Hanoverian; this meant she was a good jumper, and that she was fast. Where Bubba was unpredictable and dangerous to those that had tried riding him before, Pooky was the total opposite. She loved people.

Everybody had their doubts about the sanity of giving Alecta the horse of the Baskervilles, as one stable hand had dubbed Bubba.

"Bring him into the corral. I want to see him."

She sat up on the fence and waited for him to be released. He came barreling out of his stall like a house on fire; as always. Seeing him taking a turn around the corral, Alecta jumped down from her perch and stood right in his oncoming path, not flinching. The horse was coming at her with no intention of stopping. Kevin wanted to grab her arm and jerk her out of there, but he knew she was testing him as only she could. If he laid a hand on her now, she would do her best to liberate it from his body. She stood there waiting. She didn't have to wait long. Bubba was running at close to 50 miles per hour coming straight at her. She crossed her arms over her chest and kept waiting. Suddenly, as if he just noticed she was in his path, the horse slammed on brakes and skidded to a stop, mere inches from her…their noses almost touching.

Looking the animal right in the eye, 'That the best you got?"

Then, pointing at him and pointing to the ground she watched as the horse lowered his head and almost seemed to kneel on one of his front legs.

"Say hello to my friends, Bubba." He raised his head and came back upright and snuffled at everybody.

"Ok, formal greetings. Bubba, this is Emily. That's JJ, Morgan, Hotch, Garcia, Reid, and Rossi. Be nice to them." That last bit she whispered to the horse in such a way that the others barely heard her.

"Bubbs, you have to take me out to Dead Water Marsh; Miss Emily is gonna bring Pooky. Come on old boy."

She grabbed a foot stool that would help her even reach up to the stirrups, and got into the saddle with minimal grumbling from the horse. Then she took him on a couple quick doughnuts around the corral just to get a feel for him and get used to being back on a horse; she hadn't been on one in quite some time.

"Come on Miss Emily, up and at 'em."

"I'm coming with you." Hotch spoke up.

"Really? I don't know if I can baby sit you both."

"Well after meeting your father at the diner yesterday, I'm not letting you go somewhere if it's possible he will show up."

"Awww, how cute. Don't worry baby, I have my bases covered." She opened the hoodie; on either side she had three blades that were held in with secret pockets that were stitched in and snapped shut to hold the daggers in snuggly. Then she lifted up some secret compartments on the saddle….more blades.

"You see Agent Hotchner, Lex's horse through and through."

"What about a gun?"

"I never have much cared for guns. Hotch, really it's alright. I'm loaded down, Emily is a decent shot…"

Seeing Hotch give her the 'Hotch' look, the one with the one arched eyebrow that almost said, 'Do _**not**_ argue with me' she looked over at Mr. Dan'el, "Get Hotch a horse. Lightening should do."

With that, knowing she was defeated at least this once, she turned Bubba around and started to ride, slowly at first to give Emily time to catch up and for Hotch to get mounted on Lightening. As she turned away on horseback she could be heard to mutter something about 'that man being damned infuriating'.

"Good thing I had them prep another one for him anyway." At Mr. Dan'el's request, Lightening was brought out with your basic riding saddle, nothing much fancy to speak of.

Taking Hotch aside over closer to the horse, Mr. Dan'el raised a secret flap just behind where Hotch's leg would rest on the saddle; behind the flap he revealed a glock on either side.

"Never mind how I came into possession of these. Are you any good with one?" Mr. Dan'el saw the mischievous grin on Hotch's face, "I'll take that as a yes. If they come out there, if they get too close, give no quarter. Aim for something vital."

"I did the other night. I have no qualms about doing it again."

"Yeah, I heard about that. Not a bad piece of shooting if I do say so myself. Repeat if necessary."

With that, the older man allowed Hotch to mount Lightening and catch up with Prentiss and Alecta.

As Hotch got closer to catching up to them, Alecta turned back around looking at Reid, "Are you sure you don't want to come, or would you rather wait for our _card game _later?"

"I…um…I'll be fine waiting for the card game."

Alecta smiled and nodded her head. The good doctor, it seemed had learned his lesson. If Constance had pleasantly surprised him, then Dead Water Marsh would likely terrify him in great measure; especially if it put on the same show it always did…the one where the apparitions of the people dumped there (or that died there to begin with) began floating to the surface….their pale, water logged skin….the eyes glazed over with opaqueness. The dead stares; there were hundreds of them. And the sounds that you could hear; if you listened carefully, you could hear the sounds of a Revolutionary skirmish taking place in the nearby distance. And there was the odd scream of the dying. Yes, it's an educated guess that, after meeting with such a quiet and calm specter like Constance, he would totally shit his pants once he was introduced to a place like Dead Water. He was already an insomniac. The marsh would only make matters worse for him.

The only place worse than the marsh, was the swamp. The natives that used to populate the area would only ever go a certain distance into the swamp to fish or to hunt. And much farther in than that distance, just like with the marsh, they considered to be evil. And most people had accepted that over the years. If the natives, who had lived here for centuries, if not thousands of years before the first Europeans came over, were terrified of a place, there was at least a grain of truth to their stories. And the white people who came to the new world and began to colonize the place took the stories for their value. They might have complained that the natives were savages, but the Europeans were still religious enough at the time to be superstitious and believe the stories.

And in recent years there was always the odd few that dared to be different; the adventurers that would go beyond the final frontier. Most were never seen again, alive or otherwise. It was never known if they were eaten by a bear or something…or if they were….if something else entirely different had happened to them. Some would of course lose their way and die in the swampland of starvation eventually. But there were others….there had been the story of one man when she was a child. He had been a belligerent drunk that didn't believe shit stunk. He was the kinda guy that started drinking at noon on Sunday and never stopped. One day some old timers had been talking about the myths of the area, and in his drunken ways he told them he wasn't scared of some old wives tales that didn't amount to a hill of beans. And to prove that he was right and that everyone else was just a bunch of sissies, he would venture into the swamp. He packed a bag full of a change of clothes and some bottles of water, small first aid kit, etc. and set out. He wasn't seen or heard from for days after that. When he was found, he was alive, but he was never the same since. He was committed to one of the psychiatric hospitals a few towns over. His hair had gone completely white, and he was mumbling incoherently. He was a mess. The town's people tried to give him a few days for his nerves to calm down and see if he would come out of his fit…but things only got worse. He stopped talking altogether…he deteriorated mentally, had a breakdown of sorts. That's when they committed him. He still lived in the institution. He was still a babbling idiot. He still sat in his chair rocking back and forth, drawing sketches of things that nobody understood but him. Sure he made it out alive, but at what cost?

It was a barren area, most wild animals avoided it. It was beautiful to look at though; trees as far as you can see, with the swamp intermingled throughout the area. But something about it was just eerie.

Alecta had only ventured into that place once or twice herself. She had no other choice. She was running for her life then. She either had to take her chances with the 'evil' in the swamps or the evil that was chasing her in the first place. She had a place to hide if it came down to it. There was a cave that she'd found and left some things in. Hopefully they still worked. She'd never been to check them. It wasn't the kind of place you lingered in unless what was in the outside world was somehow worse.

Heading out to the marsh, Alecta didn't open Bubba up to top speed, if she had it would have been difficult for Prentiss and Hotch to keep up; even if their horses were fast enough, they didn't know the way. And if they did by some chance find their way, they would play hell getting close to the marsh…animals sense evil.

It took them about 10-15 minutes to go through the bit of woods and then the clearing that lead to the marsh. As they came within sight of the marsh, Alecta slowed Bubba down to a very slow walk.

"What are you doing Davis?"

"You may not believe anything you're told about this place. But I lived here. My ancestors help found this town over 300 years ago. We know it better than most anybody alive. I'm being cautious."

As they inched closer to the marsh, Alecta got down off of her horse, walking forward a few steps, keeping her hand wrapped around the lead. Bubba, standing 6'5 in human height at the shoulders, his head looming over Alecta's, leaned over and gently grabbed Alecta by the back of her hoodie pulling her back.

Struggling against the animal's insistence that she not go any closer, "Dude, really. It's alright, it's safe…for now."

"And just how do you know that?" Prentiss questioned snippily from her saddle as she began to get down.

Hotch was soon following suit, getting down off of Lightening.

"Well for one thing, there's no welcoming committee that has floated to the surface. And Daniel…

"What about Daniel? Who is he?"

Looking back at Hotch and Prentiss and then looking back to the area just ahead of them, "That is Daniel."

Alecta pointed to a place just a few feet in front of her. Hotch and Prentiss looked more carefully. They saw a man walking towards them…walking, sort of. He was dressed in clothes that were at least 200 years out of date.

"And pray tell what does he have to do with this?"

"Emily! Show some respect please! He fought for this country's independence. He has watched over me for a long time."

As the spectral man came closer and stopped just to the right of Alecta, Alecta turned and smiled at Prentiss and Hotch.

"This is Daniel Hollowell. He was killed in a small skirmish just beyond that cluster of trees up ahead; I believe he said once that it was around 1774 or 1775. When he comes to me in his regular clothes, as he is now, all's quiet….it's safe. If you see him in his patriot uniform shit is about to get real. And, if, like now, he comes to us as he is, and it's all safe…if things change while he's with us, you will need to be on the look-out for a Royalist soldier or a Native American guide that shows up. Especially if they show up together…if you see them both, jump on the horses and ride like hell."

"What happens if you stick around," Hotch asked. It surprised Alecta, he had been pretty quiet most of the way here.

"Well there was one time that I stayed here, even after the warning. The Royalist had appeared; the only name I have ever known him by is Dorian. I was 10, maybe. I was sitting over there, near the dock, just at the head of it actually. Daniel was sitting nearby. I had gotten up to walk over and see to my horse. As I got close to the horse I had brought with me, I saw Dorian standing near her. She wasn't really afraid of him, but he made her a bit nervous. He said trouble was coming. But me being me, I wasn't gonna just turn away."

Seeing Prentiss walking up the dock of the marsh, "Don't get too close to the edge. They tend to like to touch the 'new people'.

"Who does?" Emily asked as she glanced back behind her to see Alecta coming towards her, and then over the edge of the dock; she saw a body in old clothing floating to the surface. It was still in fairly decent condition, considering how long it had been there. Judging by the clothes, that had been at least 130 years if not longer. The main difference was the pasty, water logged skin and the clouded eyes. Prentiss could hear the body gasp for air violently as it came to the surface.

Watching Prentiss back away from the edge, "Them."

There were several other bodies that surfaced.

"Who are these people?" Hotch managed to ask.

"Well, you see those…' counting under her breath, " six bodies there, the blonde ones?"

"Yes."

"They were last seen alive with daddy and his friends. That one that is closest to the other bank….I watched them torture and kill her. I think her name was Merilee. The people in this marsh were either killed nearby during the Revolutionary or Civil War era or they were out right murdered, like Merilee, and dumped here to hide."

"And this little girl?" Alecta turned to see what Prentiss was getting at. There was the specter of a little girl standing not even 15 feet from them.

"Who is she?"

"Daphne, what are you doing here?"

"It was so boring. I saw people at the house. Do you want to play? Oh, who is _she_? You are so pretty. Oooh! Can she play with me? What's your name?"

The little girl in question had on a small vibrant green 'Regency' style dress. She had dark brown hair, the sides of which were pulled back to showcase her lovely face, the remaining curls cascading around her shoulders and waist. She had eyes that very nearly matched the green of her dress. She was certainly lively, clapping intermittently as she asked her questions.

"Slow down baby. What are you talking about?"

"Ma'ma. She wants me to go get eggs from the chickens. I hate getting the eggs. She could make Julian go do it. He's trouble anyway. Did you know he burned my hair, again? And all papa said was 'boys will be boys'. I was so angry. So I hid his tin soldiers, and now ma'ma makes me go to get the eggs. Well, I'm going to take my time. She might get them today and she might not. Can we play instead? I promise I will behave."

"Are you sure? Last time…"

"But that was so long ago. When did you get big? You used to be a girl like me. You're big like ma'ma and Cecilia. Why?"

The little girl sounded positively heart-broken that her one time friend was now grown up.

"I had to get bigger, I couldn't stay your age forever sweet heart. Don't worry there are some little girls at the house for you to play with. Come by sometime this afternoon and I will let you meet them."

"Oh, and Dorian is coming. He said be ready. I will be there. You promise I can play with the little girls? It's been so lonely not having any friends."

"Yes baby now go, it'll all be ok. And my friend's name is Emily."

"I had a friend named Emily one time; except she wasn't big like you. She was like me. She got sick, I think mama said she had Scarlet fever. That's why I didn't have any friends anymore. Some of them died. Dare, I have to go. Dorian is coming."

With that the little girl began to run away and vanished as she went.

"What's the deal with her?" Emily was genuinely curious now.

"Wait. We have to see Dorian first. He's up to something."

Soon the Royalist soldier came into view, walking from the tree line.

"My lady, get on your horse, and go. Go now."

"I'm not 10 ya know."

"Sir, will you please talk some sense into her; she must leave now."

"Your name is Dorian right?' Hotch waited to see the man nod in the positive,"I haven't had any more luck than you so far."

"Daniel, please. Make your kin see some sense in what I say. I swear I didn't know that stubbornness could be passed on through the blood."

Daniel stepped forward and whispered something into Alecta's ear and Hotch and Emily watched her change color. She became as white as a sheet and looked to her left. There was a Native American man standing there staring at the group, an all too serious look on his face, his arms crossed over his chest.

"We have to go. Get on the horses. Now."

She took off running, heading for Bubba; Hotch and Prentiss weren't far behind.

After hopping on the horses, Alecta turned her horse to face them, 'Please try to keep up."

With that she took off at break-neck speed; Hotch and Prentiss were right behind her, so far doing a good job of following orders. They rode into the woods. Ten minutes later, Alecta slowed her horse to a walk, and began listening; again Hotch and Prentiss followed her directions.

She heard voices in the woods. They were all too familiar to her. Turning her horse in the direction of the sounds, she saw her father and two of his friends come into view.

Prentiss and Hotch heard her gasp in shock.

"No." Alecta said almost too quietly. About the same time, Jake looked up and saw her. He and his friends began making their way towards her, apparently not seeing her friends with her. Before they could get more than a few feet, Hotch and Prentiss and Alecta saw the Native American man again. Suddenly three trees broke off five feet from the ground and fell in Jake's path, blocking him from being able to get to Alecta.

"We'll go this way." Alecta lead them away from the men. Once they reached the clearing she opened Bubba up to top speed. Lightening and Pooky followed suit, no questions asked.

They arrived back at the house with Alecta jumping off of her horse before he'd come to a complete stop. Running into the house, Alecta began looking for Garcia.

"Where is she?"

"Who?" Rossi looked up from the book he had been engrossed in.

"Garcia, where is she?"

"She went with Derek. They were walking…." Reid didn't get to finish his sentence. Alecta was pretty sure she knew which route they had taken. There was a pond that was about a 20 minute walk from the house, maybe 30 minutes. It was between the Eason family property, and the property that had been owned by her family. It was a very beautiful place actually. It had large oak trees that were scattered around the edge every few feet. There were four stone benches that sat there; they had to be 150 years old. Some of the trees were decorated with rattan hanging from them. Some of them had Spanish moss as well.

Alecta had taken off at a dead sprint out of the house in the general direction of the pond.

She ran as hard as she ever had in her life. It was one thing for the team to have met her father at the diner. There were witnesses. Jake wasn't stupid. But Alecta feared him coming back after Garcia. She wouldn't let that happen.

It wasn't until Alecta came closer to the pond and slowed down that she noticed that Kevin and Hotch as well as Victor and Reid had been trying to keep up with her. She stopped at a tree nearby, seeing them sitting on one of the benches. Garcia was leaning her head on Morgan's shoulder as she spoke quietly. Every couple of minutes you could hear her sniffing and Morgan's grip on her got tighter.

Alecta could hear some of the one sided conversation. Garcia was telling Morgan some of the things that happened to her when Jake had gotten to her. Alecta put a hand against the tree and leaned over to try to catch her breath. She was breathing hard after having run like the devil was after her.

"Sit down old girl, you'll pop a lung."

"She's talking about those last days. I….we…."

"Hush; just calm down first, you can talk after you catch your breath."

"What happened?" Rossi demanded, Mrs. King had finally made it…she wasn't quite as fast as the others.

"While we were out on our ride, we saw Jake two or three other men. They saw us. She became worried for Garcia's safety."

Alecta stood up and walked closer to the bench that Garcia and Morgan were sitting on and cleared her throat. They turned to see her standing there, still breathing hard.

"What's up Davis?" Morgan turned to see what she wanted.

Garcia noticed the look in her eyes and the body language, "Um, hot stuff, we should be going in now. It's getting late. The diner for lunch?"

Alecta would agree to anything just to get them away from this place and somewhere safer.

So the group went back to the house and got cleaned up and made their way to the diner for lunch. Garcia and Alecta kept sharing looks between each other. Garcia was grateful for the heads up, and Alecta was just glad that nothing bad had happened. This time.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: So, here's chapter 4. What I know for sure will happen here; we will be meeting a bitchy girl named Whitney. I actually based her on a girl that I knew a few years ago. That girl wasn't so much bitchy, but she and my best friend at the time didn't get along at all, so since I play for home teams…this Whitney winds up eating a little crow, so that's good. We will finally meet Ollie; he's this o-l-d Scottish man who was in WWII. In some ways he makes me think of Ducky from NCIS. But I really wrote him in sort of as a thing for my great-grandfather and grandfather; one was in WWI and died 4 months before I was born, and the other was in WWII and passed away in '95 before I ever had any inclination to ask him about his life. Anyway, I hope that the Ollie character turns out as well as I hope he does.**

Alecta and the others that decided to go to the diner parked just up the road a piece from their final destination. That's one thing about the small down town area; there is limited parking, you have to take what you can get. Getting out of the vehicles and walking up the sidewalk to the diner, they passed by a young girl with honey blonde hair and blue eyes. She could've been JJ's evil twin very nearly, she was that attractive.

As she made it a few steps beyond the group the young woman turned back around and made her way over to Alecta; you could cut the tension between them with a knife.

"Oh my gracious. If it isn't the town trash…finally coming back home. You know some of us actually don't miss you."

"Davis?"

"Don't worry Hotch. This is Whitney Pyatt. She's sort of the town welcome wagon. She just hates me because when I lived with her family as a foster child, her daddy spent most of his free time in _my bed_ instead of with her."

As Alecta turned to walk away, Whitney grabbed her by the arm to pull her back. Then Whitney balled up her fist and threw a punch into Alecta's left jaw, knocking her down.

Stepping forward, Chaz whipped out some handcuffs she just so happened to have on her…a good deputy is always prepared, "Whitney Pyatt, you're under arrest for assault on a federal agent…."

Chaz kept reading off Whitney's rights, and Whitney just turned to glare at Alecta.

"You were always such a whore, and you will die a whore."

"Maybe so, but now I do it for benefits. Don't worry Whit, handcuffs can be fun. Now, if you don't mind, I have lunch to eat. Ta-ta. See you in a few right Chaz?"

"Of course."

Alecta sweetly waved and walked away. Hotch was left with the distinct urge to strangle this Whitney. He couldn't believe she had spoken that way to Alecta. And Alecta just let it go; she was a better person than he felt like right now.

The small group finally made it into the diner without further provocation and made it to one of the larger tables to sit down and start to figure out their order. And of course some of them were examining the pictures on the walls. There were so many of some of the local people and places. There was one that was close by the table that they were at.

"Who are these people?" Hotch asked curiously.

The picture was black and white, quite old; in it there were two young people that were standing in front of an old white clap-board church that had and English style garden around it.

"Oh, that's momma's parents, the day they were married."

"I think that was the last time that momma smiled,' Mrs. King spoke up.

"It wasn't long after that that daddy began smacking her around; and pretty soon after the kids started coming, he beat us, too. After years of beatings momma became sort of…." Mrs. King was having trouble finding the right way to describe it.

"It was like grandma had Boxer's dementia. She couldn't complete normal thought processes. It was rather like watching someone deteriorating with Alzheimer's or something like that."

"Yes, that's it precisely. Pretty soon it got to a point where most of her day was spent carrying Lex around like a sack of potatoes. She'd sit and brush her hair and braid it, like Lex was her little doll. Her mental capacity was about the same as Lex's at the time, they both had the minds of a 3 or 4 year old."

"When I was around 5 or 6 they put her in home. Grandpa had since stopped being so bad, and actually turned over a new leaf. Before they put her in the home, he had gotten to where he cared for her 24 hours a day, waiting on her hand and foot, bathing her. It was like he was truly sorry for all the things he'd done. And he didn't want to send her to the home, but her care was just getting to be too much sometimes. He went to visit her daily though. Sometimes daddy would allow me to go with him. It was rare. There was one day when I was 7, we went to go see her and the doctor didn't wanna let me in. He said that she was worse, and that she wasn't communicating at all, and would likely not know who I was anymore. But when I started pitching a bitch that I wanted to see her anyway…"

"You always did have a temper." Mrs. King laughed.

"It was the last time I saw her alive. We sat together, made the nurses bring us PB&J sandwiches. She played with my hair like always. We drew pictures for each other; you know how good she was at art…I mean she drew that over there." Alecta pointed to a hand drawn picture in a frame on a far wall. It was a picture that the old woman had drawn of herself, Mrs. King, and Alecta together. It was quite lifelike really.

"She died a few days later. When it happened, grandpa came by the house and brought a box of her art for me….her paintings that she used to do, her sketches….she had been so good at it…as you were too momma, some of yours were in there that you had made when you were a girl….It was all I had left of you both."

"Whatever happened to them? The pictures?" JJ wondered out loud.

"Most of them are still in the old house I guess. When the court case happened and I was sent into foster care, I was only allowed one suit case for my clothes….I didn't get to take a lot with me."

You could see a great deal of sadness in Alecta's eyes over it all. Those bits of art had been worth more than gold to her.

"Actually, old girl, they are at our house." Kevin spoke up; even after all these years he hated to see that lost expression in her eyes.

"What are you talking about?"

"A few weeks ago, after Chaz came back from Los Angeles…I went into the house; it's how I found out that Jake was out. I went in there, and searched for that box, and a few other things."

"Kev…"

"I know, I know…it was too dangerous. If he had caught me in there, it would have been my ass. I know. But Chaz had told me about her trip to get you and what she found there. And I was going to get some things together to bring to you down in Quantico once you got settled. But then…" Kevin shrugged to indicate his point.

"Hell broke loose."

Kevin only nodded. "The box and the other things that I managed to get out with are in one of the rooms beside the chimney in the ballroom. You know the one." He smiled at her and his dimples showed.

"Thank you." Alecta spoke barely above a whisper.

Suddenly the door to the diner opened and Alecta turned to see who came in.

It was this little old man, slightly stooped from age, with big ears and snow white hair. He had crisp blue eyes and a jaunty way that still clung to him. He looked like he was as old as Methuselah. Alecta pushed her chair back and darted over to where he was at the end of the bar, flipping through the newspapers there. As she reached him she carefully put an arm around his shoulder and hugged him gently. When he looked around and saw who hugged him, he got a huge smile on his face and turned and hugged her back.

"Bless me, old girl, I never thought I'd see you again." He sounded so very happy to see her again.

You could see a tear or two escaping Alecta's closed eyes, "I've missed you too old man." Her head rested on his shoulder as he stroked her hair and hugged her tightly. "Come sit with us."

Alecta gently lead him over to the table by one elbow and tapped Hotch on the elbow, signaling him to move down a seat. Of course Hotch moved. "Everybody, this is Ollie. Ollie these are my friends. Aaron Hotchner, David Rossi, JJ, Emily Prentiss, Derek Morgan, Spencer Reid, and Penelope Garcia."

After getting comfortable next to Alecta, "So mum, where have ya been and why haven't you been home." His still thick Scottish brogue came out gently. Everyone was already amused with this old man. He looked slightly like Peter O'Toole, they could be cousins.

"Well after what happened, I was put into foster care with strange families. And I hated it. So I ran away; I wound up in Las Vegas first, and then Los Angeles. I have a few kids now."

"Yeah, really? And what about a husband or a boyfriend?"

"I was married twice, but it didn't last either time. It's like I told you before…."

"Don't you have your dares to say it. Anybody who doesn't love you just because you're in their presence isn't worth a shit anyway. And if they upset you, send them to me, I'll box their ears for them."

Alecta stopped arguing and just rested her head against his shoulder again. "I missed you old man."

"So what are we eating? I'm not getting younger."

With that the group made their order and set to eating when it was brought out. After about an hour or so of talking and eating it was time to head out and go back to the house. Alecta stood and helped Ollie up; she took him by the arm to lead him out the door as they left as well. Alecta made some remark about Ollie being one of her favorites, and Kevin made some sort of grumbling noise in disagreement.

"I'm sorry old chap. She was really my girl all along. Get your own." With that, Ollie placed his hand over hers that was resting on his arm and they both turned and stuck out their tongues at Kevin. And Kevin couldn't help but laugh. God help anyone that came between her and Ollie; he really was one of Alecta's favorite people in the world. And the team got a good chuckle off of the daring old man as well.

Alecta walked him to his car, though it really scared most people to think of a man that old still having his license. As they walked, with Hotch walking on the other side of Alecta, Ollie told her that he would come by the house later and they would talk some more and that he had some things to give her.

As they parted, Alecta took him by the ears and tilted his head, kissing him on his forehead and hugging him tightly again, but not too tightly. "You be careful whatever you do." She helped him ease down into his car seat and watched as he fastened his seat belt and started the car. He waved to her as he pulled away.

As the others began to pile back into the SUV's that they had come to town in, Alecta informed them she had to go over to the general store.

"I can walk back to the house; it's not really that far away."

"I'm coming with you."

"Hotch, we can wait for the two of you."

"No, it's ok. Go on ahead. We'll be alright."

Morgan nodded twice, although he could see by the look on Alecta's face that she wasn't too sure about this. He almost smiled; he wanted to laugh. Rossi just shook his head candidly, slipping into the front passenger seat of the vehicle that Morgan was going to be driving.

"Mommy, can we come, too."

"No, not this time; you have to get home and get a nap. You have a friend coming over a little later, and I want to make sure you have your rest."

Emma went ahead and got into the car; Sofie was grumbling that they never got to do anything fun.

"Shut up Sofie, or mommy won't let us play later."

JJ shook her head as the girls piled into the car.

Hotch followed Alecta up the road to the general store. He couldn't remember ever having been in one before. The outside had some old fuel pumps, indicating that it had once had some business as a gas station as well. It was a one story, maybe a story and ½, red clapboard building with a large portico that would have been used to pull up closer to the building during inclement weather. There were two large front windows with some displays of what the store sells. There was a double screen door, and after you would go through that, you had to go through a heavier wooden double door that had glass inserts in the upper portions. All of the doors were weather beaten, like the rest of the building. Inside, there was a worn wooden floor; same for the shelves that lined the walls of the place. The sales counter was an old battered wooden piece with glass inserts showcasing some of the smaller items that were available. The inside was being lighted with about 4 bare bulbs hanging from the ceiling on ancient cords. There was an old iron pot belly stove that had to be every bit of 100 years old sitting in the middle of the floor. As Alecta and Hotch entered, Hotch noticed that there were about a ½ dozen old timers sitting around it, with their feet propped up on the edges drinking Coke out of glass bottles and snacking on various candy bars. On top of the counter, the register was an old thing. It still had the numbers that popped up on little wooden pegs when the keys were pressed on the key board; it had a golden finish and was decoratively carved…

Alecta sauntered up to the counter and got the attention of the clerk, "Water Head, I need to pick up a heating coil for Mrs. 'Ouisa's oven. Can you grab it for me?"

"Y-y-yes; o-o-of c-c-course." The old man went towards the back of the store and began to rummage through the odds and ends that were stored in the crates around him. While he was gone back there, Alecta walked around the counter, reaching up to one of the shelves behind her and grabbed two candy bars; she had to stand on her tip toes to reach the shelf she was looking for. Hotch chuckled and shook his head. Then she took a couple dollars out of her pocket and laid them on the counter as she came to the end and reached into an ancient refrigerator and pulled out two glass bottles of coke, handing one off to Hotch. They both popped the caps on the bottles on the bottle cap opener that was on the side of the refrigerator. While Alecta waited for ol' Water Head to come back with the part she needed, she sat in one of the empty chairs; she had to scoot forward to be able to stretch her legs out enough to reach the edge of the stove to prop her feet up like the old guys.

"So, what is it today boys?"

One of the old guys looked at her slyly and raised his bottle, she raised hers and they toasted. Alecta grinned and then chuckled a bit at the idea of toasting a soda bottle. When she leaned back into the chair, the way she had to sit, her head didn't come to the top of it.

This one old man, a man that Hotch came to understand was known as 'Cub', spoke up, "Good to see some things never change."

Getting antsy, "For real, what are we talking about boys?"

And with that the old men cut her in on the conversation. And they were off. They had talked so much that they were able to finish their candy bars and drinks. Eventually they started circulating to get up and get more refreshments, each of them tossing the money to cover the candy and drinks on the counter. Hotch was looking rather put out with just standing there.

"Ooh! I'm sorry Hotch, come sit with us. It's ok."

"There's not an empty chair."

"Don't be silly. Sit on Santa's lap and tell her what you want for Christmas." Alecta said with a devious smile, patting her knee.

"Seriously."

"You can have my chair. They don't bite. Do ya boys?"

"Not unless you tell us to." June Bug interjected, taking a drag off of his fresh coke. June Bug was 85 if he was a day.

While Hotch got comfortable in the chair that had been occupied by Alecta she scooted over and sat on Cub's lap for a second, taking his baseball cap off of his head and placing it on hers. It was so big it slid down over her eyes and nearly engulfed her head entirely. She had to lift her chin and squint her eyes to see under the brim. The old men just laughed.

"Yep. The same as ever."

"Really?" Hotch asked.

"Yes; back there on the back wall behind the counter. The picture….take a look."

Hotch turned around and looked. There was a 5x7 grainy, framed photo in a simple black frame of baby Alecta; not more than 3 years old. She was sitting beside of Cub in the picture, wearing the same baseball cap. She had to hold it up with one hand to be able to look at the camera. She had her 'Snicker' candy bar in her other little pudgy hand; she had most of the candy bar smeared all over her face. Her tiny white teeth were showing, as was her little dimple in her left cheek, from the big smile that she had. She was all big brown eyes and long, curly hair that was falling out of her little pony tail. To look at the picture, you would think that the child in it had no clue about how precarious her life really was. It spoke to how well Mrs. King tried to do right by Alecta that the child could still have a smile on her face.

"That picture has been ol' Water Head's favorite all these years. He used to go to school with her grandparents, all four of them. Hell we all did. My older brother was in WWII with one of her grandfathers." Cub explained.

There was a soft glow in the store, provided by the spare bare bulbs. It really was like walking back in time a bit. It was kind of eerie actually. Once Hotch turned around and got settled back comfortably into his seat, Alecta upped the ante. She came over and sat on his lap, with her legs dangling over his left one so she could keep talking to her 'public'. Nobody seemed to bat an eyelash, as if this was normal. Meanwhile, on the inside, Hotch was on the verge of panic. He had been trying, all day, to avoid any major contact that might get him into trouble. This was a prime example of what he was afraid of.

Yes, Alecta was attractive; dear God was she attractive. She had a great sense of humor. She never gave up; she'd fight you to the death for something she believed in. Although she had her damages, she was practically perfect in each and every way.

But Hotch was the team leader. He was Hotch. Most people would swear he was carved out of stone due to his lack of emotions most of the time. Ever since his wife, Haley, had died, he had dated the odd woman or two. But nobody had been serious. For one thing he had worried that his dedication to his job would ruin another relationship. And with Beth…she left him because of her dedication to her career. He couldn't fault her for it. She had to do the right thing for her life. They were still friends, even now. And then there were the times that he talked himself out of another steady relationship because he was scared to death of the same thing that happened to Haley happening to someone else because of him. He couldn't stand by powerless and watch someone else that he loved be murdered for the fun of it. No thanks, it did a number on him the first time around. And he had to be careful about the kind of person he brought around Jack, especially when he was younger.

But there was just something about Alecta. They had a lot in common. Both of them came from abusive homes. He couldn't count how many scars he had all over from beatings his dad gave him. And he still hadn't heard the whole story about Alecta's childhood. She had guarded that carefully. He knew there was a scar above her left eyebrow; he didn't know how she got it. And there were times, when she would wear short sleeved blouses, that he would notice an odd scar here and there and wonder what it was from; he never asked. If she wanted to talk about it, it was her business.

They were both dedicated to their work. Both had lost someone they cared for deeply to the job. In Alecta's case, Yuri returned to her; he left her again, but at least he returned in the first place.

And where Hotch was all stone faced and rarely ever let his emotions or sense of humor show, Alecta was sort of a clown in some ways.

Right this minute, Hotch had his right arm around Alecta's waist to hold her steady on his lap. Same as in the picture, her long hair was falling gently out of the sides of her pony tail, giving it a rumpled look. She had turned Cub's baseball cap around backwards and was still drinking off of her 2nd bottle of Coke. Hotch was trying not to think about how tiny she was. With his hand resting, curved around her waist, the span between his thumb and pinky finger took up most of the length of her torso. He had to thank God for just a moment that she was wearing that hoodie that she had on; it covered up most of the pertinent details of her figure enough that he didn't have to ogle her. It was testing him bad enough to have to hold on to her, if he had been forced to actually look at her small frame in the clothes she had on…this conversation could have gotten interesting, in a way that would have gotten Hotch shot by these old timers.

The only other thing that Hotch could be thankful for at this moment in time is that Rossi was on his way back to the house with the others and couldn't gloat.

After another 15 minutes, Water Head came back with the heating coil for the oven that Alecta had requested. He made his apologies for taking so long to find it, but the store didn't have so very many of these things left around, seeing as most people were up grading their appliances and all. The poor old man had a terrible stutter, but nobody seemed to give him hell about it. It was just ol' Water Head to them.

As they got ready to leave, Alecta leaned over to put the ball cap back on Cub's head and give him a little kiss on the cheek.

"We'll have to do this again sometime boys."

"Just don't wait another 25 years how 'bout it. We ain't getting any younger ya know."

"Oh hush. I'll be back in later on in the week. I'll be staying for a while, managed to get some time off of work."

"What. Did. You. Do?" Cub asked slowly.

"Eh, save it for the next time I come out here. It's a long story." She winked at them and began walking out, with the heating coil that she had come for tucked safely under her arm.

"Since we're walking back we can take the short cut. Well it's short-_er_ than the normal way to the house. Come on."

Hotch followed her as they cut through an overgrown field; there was no telling what it was once used for, but now it was over grown with wild grasses. As they walked she took her hair out of the pony tail.

"I was starting to get a bit of a headache; I think I had it in too tight." She sort of giggled at herself as she said it. After they walked for a while in this first field, they came to the edge of a dirt road, on the opposite side of which was a corn field. Alecta walked over and reached up and grabbed an ear of corn and pulled it off.

"You're not eating that are you?"

"Oh God no. I'd have to wash it off and stuff first. You'll see what it's for in a few minutes."

Sure enough, less than 10 more minutes into their walk, Hotch and Alecta came upon a deer in the middle of the dirt road. It didn't even flinch. Alecta put her hand back to signal to Hotch to stay a bit behind her. As Hotch did as she told him, she held the corn out to the deer and it came walking right up to her. Once it started eating right out of her hand, she grabbed Hotch's hand and pulled him forward to let him pet the animal. Again, the animal didn't seem scared of him. After the deer had eaten most of the corn on the cob that Alecta had fed to it, they started walking again.

After only 15 feet, Hotch looked back and noticed the deer was following them. When he mentioned that to Alecta, all she said was 'stay tuned, there's more."

Another few feet, and there were at least five more deer that showed up along their path. The original one that Alecta had fed had moved to walk by her side, even bumping her hand with it's head every now and again to alert her that it wanted attention; just like a dog.

Alecta chuckled at the surprised look on Hotch's face. "Yep. I knew you were a city boy."

Once they rounded a corner after another mile or so up the road, the deer took off back into the fields. They must have sensed they were getting closer to home.

By the time they got to the bend in the road, Alecta was walking just a few steps in front of Hotch. Whatever Hotch was feeling would not stay quiet any longer. He grabbed her by her right arm and spun her around and kissed her…kissed her hard.

At first it seemed as though Alecta was reciprocating, but then something happened, and she pushed away from him with a hurt look on her face; she was backing away from him.

"Don't do this to me." With that, she turned and quickly ran the rest of the way to the house, never looking back, still with the heating coil tucked under her arm.

Luckily for Hotch they were close enough to the house he could figure out the rest of the way by himself. By the time he got there, Alecta had already run in, placed the oven part on the kitchen table, and was out of sight. He would have to find her and apologize to her for his actions.

But that would have to wait until the reckoning that was about to hit him in the form of…..

**Post AN: I'm evil. I know it. It's one of my better qualities. Ok. The general store in the story is actually based on a general store that is (or was) down the street from my grandma's old house when I was a kid, went there a lot. It's pretty much how I described it, except for the picture on the wall. Cub is based on an old guy that used to live down an old dirt road that ran behind my old house…Water Head is the real-life nick name of an old guy that my grandmother used to go to school with in the 1930's; although I don't know if the real man had a stutter or not. Stay tuned for Chpt 5 to see who is about to make Hotch's life miserable (at least until he explains himself).**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: So I was evil as hell for the ending of the last chapter. I know. But here's chapter 5 to make up for it. **

_Heaven bend to take my hand  
And lead me through the fire  
Be the long awaited answer  
To a long and painful fight _

_Truth be told I've tried my best  
But somewhere along the way  
I got caught up in all there was to offer  
And the cost was so much more than I could bear _

_Though I've tried, I've fallen..  
I have sunk so low  
I messed up  
Better I should know  
So don't come round here  
And tell me I told you so... _

_We all begin with good intent  
Love was raw and young  
We believed that we could change ourselves  
THe past could be undone  
But we carry on our backs the burden  
Time always reveals  
In the lonely light of morning  
In the wound that would not heal  
It's the bitter taste of losing everything  
That I've held so dear._

_I've fallen...  
I have sunk so low  
I messed up  
Better I should know  
So don't come round here  
And tell me I told you so..._

_Heaven bend to take my hand  
Nowhere left to turn  
I'm lost to those I thought were friends  
To everyone I know  
Oh they turn their heads embarrassed  
Pretend that they don't see  
But it's one missed step  
One slip before you know it  
And there doesn't seem a way to be redeemed_

_Though I've tried, I've fallen...  
I have sunk so low  
I messed up  
Better I should know  
So don't come round here  
And tell me I told you so..._

_**(Fallen, Sarah McLachlan)**_

As Hotch made his way out of the kitchen and into the hall leading to the living room, Kevin came around the corner and landed a left hook out of nowhere into Hotch's jaw; knocking him down to the floor.

"What did you do to her?"

Rossi came running from the private atrium that was off of the left of the living room when he heard the commotion. JJ and Emily came running down the stairs. Kevin's parents came from the downstairs study. Morgan and Garcia had been coming through the door that led out to the view of the river; they were in the hall and heard Hotch hit the floor hard.

"What are you talking about?" Hotch asked, picking himself up, checking that his jaw wasn't broken.

"Kevin…son…you do know you just hit a federal agent?"

"Yeah, put me in a holding cell next to Whitney." Turning back on Hotch, 'Answer me. What did you do to her?"

"Son how can you think Hotch had anything to do with it?"

"Agent Rossi, I am not one of you. I have never been a profiler. I never claimed to be an intelligent man. But when we all went to lunch together she was fine, relatively. She was still alright when we left her. She was with him when she went to the hardware store. And now she comes back from being left alone _with_ him and she was absolutely in tears. Now, I will ask you again. What. Did. You. Do. To. Her?"

"Where is she? I need to talk to her."

"Answer me first, and then, depending on your answer, you might live long enough to clean up your mess."

Hotch hung his head, he was pretty sure he would get hit in his other jaw, leaving him with a matching set.

"Ever since she joined the team I have been gaining feelings for her. On the walk back…I kissed her. At first she was alright with it, even returning the sentiment. But then she backed away and asked me not to do that to her, and ran away."

"I told you Hotch! You had better be sure of what you're doing with her." Rossi hissed through closed teeth.

"Who said I wasn't sure?"

"Yeah, well now she's locked herself in the museum. She won't even open the door for me. But I can hear her talking. I don't know which one is in there with her. Daniel, Abigail...it could be anybody."

"Now, you know I taught you how to pick a lock."

"I tried that daddy. One of them pushed the pick back out. And the door opens out, so it's not like I can kick it in."

Hotch finally stood to his full height, pretty sure that he wouldn't get hit again. "Where is this museum?"

"It's upstairs, in the ballroom. There are fire places on either end of the room. Go to the fire place to the left as you go through the door. On either side of the chimney there are two small rooms. The room to the right of the chimney is the museum. At least that's what she calls it."

Hotch started making his way up the stairs. He had to meet this head on to fix it.

As he came into the ball room he looked around for a second. He located the room that Kevin had told him about. Still shaking the cobwebs out of his head from the blow that Kevin landed, he made his way over there. As he got closer to the room, he was shoved back. Hotch never saw the hands that shoved him. As he landed, yet again on his backside, he looked up and saw an angry Daniel standing in front of him. Before he could say a word, Daniel merely glared at him and turned and walked back through the closed door into the room with Alecta.

Knowing that Daniel had gone back in, but still trying to plead his case, "I only came to apologize." Then, mumbling under his breath to himself mostly, 'I seem to be doing that a lot these days."

He heard the lock click in the door and the door swung open and saw Alecta sitting across the room in the corner on the floor. She was looking through some boxes of things. The museum was tiny, but it was well organized and held quite a lot of stuff. Daniel was standing near the door, still giving Hotch the glare.

Alecta merely glanced over at him and went back to rummaging through the box.

"Davis…I want to…"

"You never have called me by my given name; that's one way that I could tell that you don't actually care a thing about me. Not really anyway. It's not a big deal. After the way I've orchestrated my life over the last 20 or 25 years I've turned it into more of a carnival side show than anything else. You aren't to blame. People just seem to want a front row seat to watch everything blow up in my face."

Alecta rose to her feet and began to leave the room. Hotch took a quick glance around and saw medals and memorabilia from both world wars; and odd piece or two from the Revolution and the Civil Wars. She even had a uniform jacket from the Revolution that had belonged to a patriot soldier, more than likely it belonged to Daniel.

The sad look had yet to leave her face as she walked out into the ballroom.

"Don't give me that look old woman,' was all she said as she walked past the double portrait of Abigail and her husband Ezra.

Hotch followed her out.

"Do you mind? I don't care much for being stalked ya know."

"I'm not leaving you alone until we talk about this. I nearly got my jaw broken when your attack dog jumped on the trail."

"I will talk to him. I promise he won't hit you again."

"No offense, but I don't think he will be that easily controlled. I want to talk about what happened. What if I meant it?"

"But you don't."

"What if I did?"

Alecta was making her way through the house, going downstairs, out the back door leading to the view of the river. Everybody else was sitting back letting her handle it for the time being. Once they were outside, Alecta proceeded to explain to Hotch why he couldn't possibly know what he was talking about.

"Look. I'm not the kind of woman that you want to be kissing on and falling all over yourself for. I'm not the kind of girl you would take home to your mother."

"Lucky for us that my mother passed away years ago."

"That's mean."

"You never met my mother."

Alecta took off her hooded jacket dropping it to the ground where she stood.

"Look at me Hotch, I mean, really look."

"I have been. What do you think brought on that kiss?"

"You're not listening." She lifted the hem of her layered shirts revealing a nasty scar that looked rather like a dog bite among others.

"I can tell you how I got each one of them." Pointing to the one on above her left eyebrow, 'I was two. I was sitting in my high chair, having my morning cereal, 'Fruit Loops' of course. Mom and dad were fighting. Dad came too close, swinging his arms, gesturing. I'm still not sure if it was an accident that he knocked me out of the high chair or if he did it on purpose. I started screaming when my head bounced off of the floor. And because he was already angry anyway, he just turned and started kicking me in the sides and stomach to try to shut me up. Then when he got tired of everything he turned and left mom and I to pick ourselves up off of the floor.

That night was also the first night that he came into my room to rape me. He made me think he was coming to apologize. I was his baby doll, daddy's little princess. He never meant to hurt me like that. And then…." Alecta shrugged as she walked away, sniffing.

"We are more alike than you think. My father beat my brother, mother, and myself for years before he died of cancer. And nobody ever said a word about it because he was a respected lawyer in the state of Virginia. I was stabbed multiple times by George Foyet; I still have scars from that."

"Do you have cigarette burn scars, or scars from being burned with lighters all over you? Were you ever chased down and bitten by your father's Presa Canario? That's what this was from. I was 6, and I couldn't run quite fast enough. It's a lot like being chased down by a large pit bull, they stand nearly 2 feet tall at the shoulders, and they can weigh around 100lbs. At 6 years old, I was barely 3'5, and I know I didn't weigh more than about 40lbs. All I remember is the dog pouncing, screaming, and then blackness. I may have heard a gunshot, but it's all a bit fuzzy.

After that, when daddy came home he found his dog dead. He sat me in the kitchen chair; he sat in one just three feet from me and pulled out his revolver. He wanted me to tell him who shot the dog. He pointed the gun at my head and kept pulling the trigger until I told him what he wanted to know. I would never tell him, he could have shot me if he thought that would make him feel better."

"What happened?"

"The gun misfired, I ducked under the table, or was pushed…it depends on how you look at it. And as soon as I was out of the line of fire, the gun fired properly. The bullet is still in the wall of the kitchen just behind where I had been sitting. He got up and walked out.

Your father may have beaten you. I won't argue that point. But your father and his friends never tortured you. So really, save yourself from looking stupid. You and I are nothing alike. You know nothing about me."

With that Alecta walked away and Hotch continued to follow her. He knew the game she was trying to play. He'd been profiling for years.

"I know what you're doing."

"Please. Do tell."

"You have been through hell, this is true. But you're more afraid of trusting your own judgment."

Alecta grabbed her hoodie and started to walk in the opposite direction, "Oh really? I wonder why. I have had one husband come back from the dead, just to tell me that he's leaving me. My other husband has been trying for the better part of 10 years to beat me to death every chance he got. Fletcher even told me to my face, in the presence of the entire team no less, that he never loved me in the first place. But that he had a bet to win. That's all I was to him, a game; story of my life."

She stomped away, rubbing at her eyes and sniffing. Hotch was wearing her down, at least he was pretty sure of it.

"It doesn't have to stay that way."

"Oh please. I have spent nearly my entire life being somebody's ashtray, their punching bag….somebody's momma. That's all I have ever been. And you can't make me believe for one second that that is the kind of woman you want. The one person in my entire life that ever tried to stick with me through everything….and I walked away from it."

"Well then don't do it a second time."

"I left because he deserved better than me. Just _**please**_**!** Leave me alone. I don't wanna talk about it anymore. I have a card game to get to, and the kids have a play date."

With that, Alecta took off running back towards the house; she had been wiping her eyes and nose on the sleeve of her hoody. The woman was damned infuriating.

Hotch then made his way back into the house. He wasn't sure how he was going to make this work. He only knew that he had to patch this up quick. As Hotch passed back through the house, anybody could see it written on his face that he was warring with what he was trying to say to Alecta.

Kevin saw how desperate Hotch was to fix this. He sort of knew how the guy felt. This was him not more than a couple weeks ago. And Kevin and Lex had a blistering argument, and everything was better. But that was different. They had known each other their entire lives. Hotch was coming in after the fact of Alecta having to put up with 40 years of peoples bullshit.

"Agent Hotchner, just back off for a little bit. Give her some room or she will explode. I've been on the receiving end of that, it ain't pretty."

"I just…" Hotch ran his hand through his hair.

"Yeah, I know. But it'll be hard as hell to fix anything with her hand wrapped around your throat. Just, back off a few feet. Let me talk to her. I'll see if I can't talk some kind of sense into her."

Hotch looked at Kevin, not sure why the man would help him.

"Look. I'm not saying I'm happy about her choosing you over me. I'd be an out and out liar if I said that. But, as long as you do right by her and look out for her the way I would, then I can do nothing but respect you for it. And it's not worth fighting over it if all it would do is make her more miserable than she is now."

Alecta came bustling through the room and ran up all of the stairs, into the cupola, and called out Constance. Alecta told her that she didn't feel like playing cards today. And then she made her way back out of the house. She took her horse with her and rode out to the family cemetery that was a couple of acres away.

Hotch and Kevin had still been having their discussion when they looked up and saw her leave the house. Kevin looked up at his dad, a worried expression on his face.

"I'll go,' Mrs. King figured it was her turn to go talk to Lex; Hotch and Kevin had been crowding her all day and getting nowhere.

Mrs. 'Ouisa stopped her though, telling her that it was really better to give her some space. Hotch kept pacing. He didn't like her being out there, anywhere without somebody with her. Her father or one of his friends could try something stupid at any time. Finally, Hotch had enough; he snuck out the front door and made his way in the direction that he'd seen Lex go.

It took him a few minutes to get to her, but when he did, he found her sitting on her knees in an ancient family cemetery near a particular grave. He walked through the gate to the cemetery and made his way over to where she was sitting.

He could hear her bawling her eyes out as she sat there. She could hear him quietly coming closer.

Without turning around Alecta began to speak, her voice choked by tears, "Ever since I was a little girl, I had to come here to talk to my momma. Daddy never told me where she was buried, I never had a clue. And he always made me believe she was dead. Kevin's mom and dad put this up to try to make me feel better when I was little because I was afraid that she wouldn't know where she belonged if she was just out there somewhere. I never had a mother to teach me anything, or to talk to and tell her my troubles….except for Mrs. 'Ouisa. And she did a good job, she really did. But it wasn't the same. When I couldn't talk to anyone else, this was all I had.

And most of my life, I've been able to….bury it. But lately, after everything that's happened…I've lost so much these last few weeks, and I've got nowhere to turn."

The sad, abandoned look in Lex's eyes was enough to stop Hotch in his tracks. She really felt like she had nowhere to turn.

"Ok. How about this; I take a few steps back and give you some space. When you think you have things straightened out in your head I'll be there."

Lex kept staring at that headstone, sniffing and wiping her eyes. Then, looking up at Hotch from where she still sat she gave a tiny, barely audible, '_Really?"_

Hotch wasn't sure which part she didn't believe; the bit about him backing off or the part about him still being there regardless.

"Yes, of course. I mean, think about it. I've sort of taken over for Morgan carrying you around everywhere. You've got me walking into doors. And I just within the last hour or so kissed the hell out of you.

Kevin nearly broke my jaw. Rossi has been threatening my life since you were in the hospital, or damn near as long. And let's not forget Mr. Eason shall we, the man loves his guns. I would be a damned fool to back out now. I think Rossi scares me more than Kevin or his father…."

For the first time in nearly 24 hours, that got a nice little giggle out of her. "That's only because you don't know Kevin and Mr. Dan'el very well."

"Come on back to the house before they have a coronary."

Alecta nodded and Hotch lent her a hand to help her to her feet.

Wiping her hands on her shorts as she rose to her feet, 'Yeah, one of 'em's liable to send a search party soon."

So with that they began the walk back to the house. Hotch was pretty sure that one of his favorite things in the world was when she looked up at him for any reason. To know that there was so much going on inside of her head that he still didn't know about; and when she looked at you, you could see every emotion that was simmering behind her eyes. As if the deep, dark brown of her eyes wasn't enough, you could see all of her thoughts and emotions swirling in them. The mischief, sadness, surprise, happiness…it was all there; everything she didn't say, either because she wouldn't or just wasn't sure how.

The cemetery they had been in, although it was in a clearing, was still very near the edge of some wooded acreage. And, as Hotch and Alecta made their way back to the house, they had no idea that someone was just behind the tree line, watching them….patiently waiting.

So far, these new people had stayed by Alecta's side, never letting her out of their sight for long intervals at all. But they were bound to slip up. Someone always did. And when they did, he was getting back what was rightfully his. He had bought and paid for her, he would have her back. He wondered as he watched if this tall, dark haired man knew that she had been bought and sold like a used car. The thought made the man behind the trees snicker quietly to himself. And as he got a good laugh off of his own little inside joke, he formulated an idea of how to not only get Alecta back, but also get back that other little bitch that had escaped all those years ago. Jake would like that; he'd finally get to finish what he started, as would Lucky. Seeing enough for the time being, Lucky turned to make his way back to Jake to tell him what he had learned so far.


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Here's to chapter 6. Hopefully I will be able to work around to getting some Morgan and Garcia time in here; not making any promises, but I will try.**

The next few hours passed uneventfully; there was dinner. And that was an affair to remember. There had been one story that Kevin and his parents were telling about Lex that had everybody laughing. It got to a really good point, and they were talking about some crazy thing that she had done, and Lex started laughing so hard that she shot drink through her nose. As she squealed in agony at the burn, Kevin started laughing that much harder himself.

"That burns, you dick!" she said from behind her hand as she sniffled trying to get herself together.

"Ooooh. Did Lexa say a bad word Mrs. 'Ouisa?" Jazzy asked.

"Mommy, that sounded like a bad word." Sofie chimed in. And at the same time Emma got her two cents in with, 'Does she gotta put money in the jar?"

Sasha and Eva and Oleg made some sort of jokes in Russian about things never changing in reference to her mom getting caught saying some dirty word. As good a woman as Alecta might have been, she could swear like a sailor when she got into the swing of things.

"Hardy-har. I wish you would laugh. That shit hurt." And of course Sasha and Eva laughed that much harder.

After dinner the kitchen was quickly cleaned up. Sasha and Eva and Oleg took Sofie, Emma, and Jazzy upstairs to the ballroom to play a bit. Alecta hopped on a computer that was in the study to check in with Immogene and see how the rest of her girls were doing on their time off. She was informed that Theo's body had made it back to her native city in Russia and was given a proper burial.

When she came back out of the office, Alecta seemed a little morose. She saw agent Rossi over in the atrium trying to schmooze with her mother. Smiling, she walked to the archway that opened into the atrium and leaned against the door, watching them.

"Now, mother you do know that he has had three wives right?"

"Yes, nosey rosy. He already told me that. Don't you have something to get into?"

"Yeah,' Alecta said quietly and walked away; but she wasn't quick enough for her mother to miss the look in her eyes. That lost look; she had it a lot these days.

"Excuse me Agent Rossi…."

"Seriously, when will you start calling me Dave or David?"

"When it stops being such a big deal to you. But right now, I have to go talk to her. I've missed out on all of these things."

"I suppose you're right. Go ahead, let me know how it goes."

Mrs. King simply nodded her head and walked quickly from the room. She learned that Alecta had gone into the kitchen to ask Mrs. 'Ouisa if the plans were pretty much in place for Mr. Dan'el's party. And they were. They had planned it months in advance, she was told. So she had walked up the stairs and disappeared.

Mrs. King went all over the house, finding her, finally, on the covered porch that faced the river…on the true front of the house. She was sitting up on the banister, leaning against one of the large columns that made up the entrance of the front steps, her arm resting around one as though she was trying to hug it to her side.

Hearing her mother coming up, knowing those footsteps better than her own, even after all these years apart, "It's gonna storm again tonight."

"That's what I was thinking as well. What has brought you so down this quickly?"

"Back the other week, there was a situation. A dear fr…a dear friend of mine had to be killed."

"You mean she died?"

"No. I mean, she had to be killed. There was nothing else that could be done. She had stabbed me multiple times…I forget how many now. And Gibbs had to shoot her."

"Gibbs? Our cousin Gibbs?"

"Yes."

"What kind of friend was she to stab you?"

"Troubled…deeply troubled. She, at one time, reminded me of myself. I tried so hard to save her. I tried to….it doesn't matter. Whatever I was trying to do, I failed. It's as simple as that. The fact that she tried to kill me was as much my fault as hers."

Alecta began to reel out the story about the undercover job and what had happened with that.

Meanwhile, upstairs, Garcia had gone to get a shower. It had been looking like it wanted to storm judging by the clouds outside and she was trying to get a jump on things before that happened. She shut and locked the bathroom door behind her and then leaned over to start the water running to warm up to the right temperature. Then she took her hair down and brushed it out; then she stripped down. As she did this the scars she had from her time being held captive by Alecta's father, Jake, were glaring at her in the reflection from the mirror. It's part of the reason that the only mirror in her own apartment was the one in her own bathroom. She didn't need it all staring her in the face any more than necessary. She wore colorful clothes, crazy patterns, and pasted a cheerful smile on her face. And usually she did a great job of keeping people off of the trail. Most people would never guess that she had these scars or where they had come from. Most days she didn't even really look at herself in the mirror. She just would glance long enough to make sure her eyeliner landed on her eyes and that her lipstick stayed where it belonged. She never actually _saw_ herself though.

And for the most part she was able to get by. The only times that her loathing came to the surface much was when she thought about her friendship with Morgan; well now they were dating, had been for several months.

In the old days, when they were just friends, she used to wish that she could be like those other women. Maybe not built like a number 2 pencil, but at least then she wouldn't have the scars. It's why she and Derek hadn't slept together yet. She had never been able to tell him the story. She had tried for nearly half of her life to leave it all behind her as much as possible. She didn't want to lie by omission. But Pen didn't want to do something foolish like get intimate with Derek, be lying in bed, naked no less, and have him see all these things and ask too many questions. Or worse yet, what if he saw them and bailed on her? She wouldn't be strong enough to deal with that.

Feeling the water, and noticing that it was at just the right temperature, she got into the shower, pulling the curtain shut behind her. She washed her hair, and her body, going across as many of the scars as she could reach, reliving the acquisition of each one in her memory. She began to scrub at her skin a little harder. Before long, she began to notice how she had scrubbed her skin practically raw in places; she rinsed her hair and applied the conditioner, shortly thereafter rinsing that out. After making sure she had rinsed all of the soap from her body, Penelope leaned over and shut off the shower. She got out, drying off, wrapped another towel around her hair. She carefully got her pajamas on; they were a pair of pj pants that had the 'Tasmanian devil' on them…they were bright sky blue. And she had a matching blue camisole top. It covered the really noticeable scars. There were a few smaller ones here and there that she could pawn off on childhood accidents.

By the time that she had made it back into the bedroom she noticed that Derek had come in and was waiting on her to come out. She had taken her still slightly damp hair down out of the towel and put her glasses back on.

"I was wondering where you'd gotten to princess." Derek mentioned as he came closer to her.

"Just figured I'd get my shower out of the way; it looked like a storm was coming up and I wasn't sure who else might want to get one before it does."

As he leaned in to kiss her, Derek commented on the scent of vanilla of her body wash, and how it made her smell good enough to eat, causing her to chuckle, albeit nervously, at him.

During the time it had taken Garcia to get her shower, Alecta had told her mother the abridged version of what had happened to her undercover; there were certain things that a mother should never know about in respect to things that have happened to her child, and then come in to get her own shower. She went through much the same routine as Garcia; not really looking at her reflection…scrubbing her skin practically raw. It was something she'd been doing all her life. If someone asked her if she knew what she really looked like, she could vaguely tell you that she had dark hair and eyes and that she was short with boobs and a but that she had always thought were a bit large for someone of her stature. But other than that she couldn't tell you any real details about herself. She couldn't bear to look in the mirror and study her reflection for long. Her problems went even deeper than Garcia's though. Part of Alecta's problems stemmed from the fact that, except for her lack of height, she looked remarkably like her father; same dark hair and eyes, and a similar, yet more feminine bone structure. She had had enough of Jake and his friends watching her over the years. Alecta didn't want to have the same experience every time she saw herself in the mirror.

And Garcia and Alecta were different, too, in that Garcia went for the vanilla scented and sometimes fruity scented body washes. Alecta was more into the florals. It was one of the few truly girly things about her. She loved the lavenders, roses, lilacs, jasmines, etc.; she was a sucker for them. Tonight, it was the rose flavored body wash that she had with her; even her shampoo and conditioner had a light rose scent. Nothing too overpowering though, she didn't like to over-do it. She liked just enough to get noticed, but not enough to knock over an elephant.

Derek and Pen had moved their little make-out session to the bed. Derek had the forethought to lock the bedroom door behind him when he came up here. And right about now, he was thanking whatever it was that made him do that. Things were moving along quite nicely between them, rather suddenly. They had started dating months ago, and had yet to get anywhere sexually in their relationship. They had had several near misses with making out. Sometimes it was because they would get called into work, bastard unsubs…and sometimes it was because for some reason or other he could always tell Pen was holding back for some reason. He figured it had to do mostly with body image issues, not that she had any reason to have them, not as far as he was concerned…hell no. But he knew that sometimes women just didn't like the way they looked or were always feeling like they could lose 10-20 lbs.; it's just the way some women were. But it would break his heart if Pen lost very much weight; the way he saw it was that she was damned close to perfect now. He didn't want her to change.

Their kissing was getting more involved; Derek had leaned over Pen, resting his weight on one arm, so as not to crush her, and his free hand was beginning to roam her body. Then there was the moment that he tried to get her out of her pajama top. She began to push him away. At first it was just shoving his hands away. Then it progressed to that as well as trying to get his attention by calling his name. And finally, Garcia used the strength she had and shoved Derek off of her enough that she could wriggle out from under him and off of the bed.

Derek spun around in his spot on the bed and looked at Pen, really looked at her. She was breathing hard, like she was scared. Her arms were a toasty red, as was the skin of her chest above the neckline of her top. And the look in her eye, he'd seen it on Alecta a few times since he'd met her.

"Baby Girl, what's wrong?" he asked very gently.

"I just…." She looked away from him, towards the floor, pulling her bottom lip between her teeth.

Derek had seen that look on Alecta's face before, too. He knew that this wasn't going to be good.

"Sweetheart, what is it? If this is about the scar from when Baylor shot you…."

"I wish that was what this was about."

"Alecta told me once that the two of you met out this way…"

"What did she tell you?" Penelope asked rather demandingly.

"Only that you passing through the area, and that you had bumped into each other. She didn't elaborate. Is this what this is all about?"

Pen dropped down on the end of the bed putting her face in her hands, "Yes."

"Tell me what happened."

"Derek…"

"Now come on baby, you know I won't let you go without telling me the truth."

Garcia began to tell the story, haltingly, about how she had been visiting a couple of friends that had set up shop a town or two away and asked her to come visit; and so she had. And they had gone out to a small bar one night just to hang out. Pen had gotten up to go to the restroom on her own, and that was all she remembered until she woke up in this….basement…..it was an odd room. And when she looked around she saw all sorts of devices on the wall. And a young girl with bruises all over her came into the room to bring her something to drink; the girl helped her take the drink seeing as Penelope herself was restrained. As the girl helped her drink, she softly and quietly told Penelope she was going to try to help her get out of here. Pen happened to notice the small girl was actually pregnant.

"I asked her how old she was. She told me she was about 15, or pretty close to it. But she was so little, she couldn't have weighed as much as 100 lbs. soak and wet, most of that was baby belly. She explained that she had tried to help some of the others escape, but failed. And she hoped she didn't fail again. But then the men came. One of them grabbed the girl by the hair and threw her to the floor and started beating her, telling her that they didn't give her the permission to speak to me. It was a few days later when the men made their mistake of leaving us alone in the house together. As soon as they had gone the girl came down and brought some clothes that she had found...God knows where…and she managed to cut me lose. She helped me get outside and hotwire a car they had left behind. I drove the both of us to the police station. She stayed with me until someone came to take my statement. I made the cops keep her there with us and take care of her, too. If she had gone back to that house alone I'm pretty positive they would have killed her, or at least come close. And she had saved my life."

As Garcia babbled onto the rest of the story, telling what she knew about Alecta's time in that house. She told about how Jake would trade her for favors from friends or sell time with her outright, as if she was no better than a prostitute; and how he and his friends would torture the girl. The thing that she was sure would stick with her was the stories about when they would stick her down in the well. It was dark and cold and the bottom was filled with snakes; all three of which terrified the girl.

"She's been absolutely terrified of the dark as long as I have known her. She would make Reid look positively heroic by comparison. She hates the dark. And they did that to her all the time. Or they would tie her to the bed while she slept, and when she would wake up she would have roaches crawling all over her….or spiders. She learned quickly she couldn't scream or they'd get in her mouth. Jake and the others would be sitting around laughing, knocking back beers as they went. I have scars all over the place to show what they did, as does Lex. But she has it even worse than me. She looks like Jake a bit; so every time she looks into a mirror, she sees him and what he's done."

What Garcia didn't know at the time was that out in the hall, Hotch had come upstairs to get into his own pajamas, and passing by the bedroom door, hearing Derek and Penelope's conversation about Alecta, had stopped to listen a little. He hated doing it. He felt like a heel. But Alecta wasn't letting him in. After listening for several minutes, guilt got the best of him and he began to move away from the door and continue making his way to his own room. As he got started again, he looked up and saw Alecta coming out of the bathroom she had been sharing with Kevin.

Alecta was wearing a nightgown that on most women would have skimmed their ankles, but on her it draped the floor. It had wide straps at the shoulders instead of sleeves. Her hair was damp from washing and hung heavy around her waist, if not slightly below it. She hadn't noticed Hotch yet. She was still busy trying to pull the door shut and not trip on the hem of the gown. Hotch shook his head and smiled a bit, even broke into a bit of a chuckle.

Suddenly Alecta looked up and saw Hotch in the Hall and tried to go past him to her room only to have him take her by the arm, "We need to talk."

"Oh. Those are my favorite words out of a man's mouth, said no woman ever." Alecta grabbed a side of her gown so she wouldn't trip over it as Hotch pulled her by the arm to his room, shutting the door.

Alecta became nervous, "You said talk."

"Yes, I did."

"Then why are you shutting the door?" Hotch looked her in the eye and saw the look on her face change immediately. He walked over and opened the door that led out onto the second story porch that wrapped around the house; it seemed to calm her down a bit.

"I wasn't sure how much of this you wanted the others to hear."

"What is this about?"

"Jake, that house, how you really met Penelope."

"That's a loaded question. What has she told you?"

"She's told me nothing. I overheard her talking to Derek about things. It seems as though they want their relationship to progress, but she was…."

"Afraid?"

"Yes. What happened in that house?"

"Reference point?"

"I know I saw the bite mark left by the dog. But what about the one left by human teeth that I saw?"

A loud clap of thunder struck so hard it shook the house, causing Alecta to jump.

"Really, was that even necessary?"

"You're stalling."

"Daddy's friend Rusty bit me. Simple as that. He was playing too rough one day. I didn't care for it at all; I may or may not have kicked him in his manly parts. And then shit got real. Next."

After Hotch asked several questions of her she got tired of the whole charade.

"Look…sit. Be quiet and listen. This will go a whole lot faster if you don't interrupt."

Alecta made Hotch sit on his bed, she sat over on Rossi's and perched on the edge with her knees pulled up to her chest as she talked, wrapping her arms around them. Her story ran the gamut of things that had happened to her from that day in the kitchen when she was two years old until the very last day, when she helped Garcia escape. She even told him how she got the scars around her neck that looked like rope imprints.

"They used to hang me sometimes. Not for long, not until dead, no; just long enough that, when they decided to cut me down they could be sure that I would behave myself."

"You still haven't told me what happened that led up to Jake trying to kill your mother. What happened that was so bad that he resorted to that?"

"Nothing much. It was a Tuesday. The night before, on Monday, he had been on a bar crawl with his friends. When he came home he was drunker than I had ever seen him up to that point. As soon as he came in the door I knew something was going to be different. I was up in my room, shaking under the covers. I knew he'd be coming for me in a few minutes; it wouldn't be long at all. He'd smack momma around a little first and then come for me. I had learned not to bother screaming for him to stop, he never did. Crying didn't work. I didn't even hide from him anymore. That only prolonged the inevitable; he always found me, no matter what. And by hiding it made him think I was turning all of this into a game, that it was as fun for me as it was for him. And besides, the one time I did hide from him, by the time he found me I was so upset by the whole thing, I vomited all over him. Although that did break whatever mood he was in, I got beaten for it.

All I could do was sit there and wait. It was the most miserable feeling in the world, being trapped.

He was rougher on me than he normally was, I guess because he was so drunk. It hurt worse than it had in long time. Although I had given up on screaming and crying a long time ago, I couldn't help it that night. Momma was trying to get to me. But she could barely stand on her own two feet. And one of her eyes was swollen shut anyway. And then he…h-h-he passed out on top of me."

Hotch watched as she began to have difficulty taking a deep breath.

"I couldn't breathe. And daddy is so big that I could never in a million years get him off of me. Momma dragged herself along the floor and pulled herself up by the bed, scared when she couldn't hear me screaming or crying anymore. She knew that as long as I was making some sort of sound then I was at least alive and we could live to fight another day. She couldn't get daddy off of me either.

She had to turn and get down the stairs somehow and drag herself out of the house. I'm still not sure how she made it down the road to that old shack the Gatlings lived in, but she did.

She brought them back with her. The old man grabbed daddy and pulled him off of me and the bed, throwing him in the floor. When daddy turned on the old man, Mr. Gatling lowered a shot gun in daddy's face and chased him out of the house. And then, Mr. Gatling came to me and checked me out. I had stopped breathing, I was changing colors. But the old man had been a medic in WWII and he knew more or less what to do for me. He saved my life.

Momma and I stayed with the Gatlings that night, in case daddy came back. Mrs. Gatling got momma and I cleaned up; I slept in one of Mr. Gatlings old t-shirts. The next morning they gave momma handful of cash that they had socked away in a jar in their kitchen. They took us home. The plan was for momma to pack a suitcase for us both and then the old man would pick us up that afternoon and carry us a couple towns away and put us on a bus. We were to ride as far as that money would take us. But daddy came home early and caught momma packing. And that was it."

By the time Alecta had finished the story, or as much of it as any one person could take at one time, Hotch had tears rolling down his cheeks. Alecta got up and sat beside him and rubbed them away using one of Rossi's shirt sleeves from a shirt that had been lying across the bed. The idea that she was doing that to one of Rossi's shirts almost made Hotch smile in spite of how sad he was.

"You ain't gotta cry, boss man."

"You know you can call me Aaron, right."

She shrugged. "I don't anymore; cry I mean. It never got me anywhere. Why do you think I always said that you can't kill what's already been dead? Been there, done that, bought the t-shirt. It was quite dull and I didn't care for it. Anyway, you have to change…"She stood to leave the room and give him his privacy. Hotch stood to walk her to the door.

Another loud clap of thunder rolled out, shaking the house, making her jump again. When she jumped Hotch wrapped his arms around her, and she quickly ducked out of his arms; she wasn't ready yet for anything that might prove he was serious about her.

"Why are you so jumpy today?"

"I gotta go."

With that she lifted the hem of her night gown enough to walk and took off out of the room onto the porch and ran into her room and shut and locked the door. Hotch just sighed, running his hands through his hair and began changing his clothes like he had set out to do in the first place. Right about now, Hotch could really use some kind of advice on which way to turn with her. After changing clothes he decided to go back down stairs and passed JJ and Will in the hall. They were putting Henry down and would be turning in early themselves. Yeah, everybody knew what they were up to; trying for baby number two is what they were doing. Then he also passed Rossi who grinned at him as they passed in the hall.

"What's that look for?"

"What's been keeping you so long?"

"What are you implying?"

"Alecta is back down stairs, her nerves a little shot. What did you do?"

"Nothing, I swear. I finally got her to tell me quite a bit about the things that Jake did to her when she was a girl, that's all."

"How the hell did you manage that? She's as tight lipped as a clam about what happened in that house. Kevin still only knows some of it. And wipe that smirk off of your face; you know that's a damned lousy way to get one over on him."

"Yeah you're right. I didn't have to do much; I just let her know that I had overheard Morgan and Garcia talking in their room about what happened to Garcia and how it lead to Garcia meeting Alecta. Shortly thereafter, Alecta was telling me what I wanted to know. Now is it alright if I go back downstairs?"

"You can bet there's more that she hasn't told you, yet."

"How much more can there possibly be?"

"You have no idea."

With that Rossi turned to his nightly routine, allowing Hotch to head back downstairs before a search party was sent. Getting further into the room, Rossi saw one of his shirts on the floor by the opposite bed. Now, he was pretty sure that he had left it on the bed he had been sleeping in. Whatever, he'd ask Hotch about that later. There was no time for a shower now, the storm had blown in and was raging pretty well, so Rossi settled for just washing his face and letting the rest go.

By the time Rossi got back downstairs, he started laughing. Mrs. King was sitting on the sofa, Rachel was sitting in front of her, Alecta was sitting in front of Rachel. In front of Alecta was Emma, in front of Emma was Sofie, and in front of Sofie was Jazzy. They were each brushing and combing each other's hair, and beginning to put braids in each other's hair. They were each chewing some bubble gum.

"Mommy you said ta do it this way?" Sofie turned for a second looking back at Alecta to make sure she could get the instructions from her mother about how to blow a great bubble.

"Yes baby. Make the piece of gum bigger, like this…then take your tongue out of it and blow, like a balloon…"

"Sofie, turn it around, you're gonna make me mess up your braid."

"Ow, mommy! She's pulling my hair!"

"I'ma pull more than your hair if you don't turn it around!"

"No really, hair braiding and bubble gum starts a fight. Just hadda flashback."

"Mama, stop moving your head." Rachel yanked on the handful she had of Alecta's hair.

"Momma, make her stop pulling my hair!" Alecta wrapped Rachel in the calf with the hair brush she had been using to brush through Emma's hair. "The witch knows I'm tender headed."

Yanking on Rachel's hair, "Stop pulling your momma's hair."

Rachel sort of grumbled under her breath. Alecta settled back into the routine, smiling, tickled pink that pulling the 'mom' card had worked in her favor.

"So, tell me…why are all of you going through the braiding train when you will have to go to bed soon anyway?"

"Ignore Reid. He's a guy, and he's city people."

"I didn't even hear a word he said," Rachel replied while going through the segments of her mother's hair. She looked up at Reid and winked with her left eye, grinning.

Reid began to turn beet red in the face; Emily, sitting beside him giggling at his discomfort.

Sofie was sitting there, braiding Jazzy's hair and began to blow her bubble. It got bigger and bigger, and then the little girl dropped the brush and Jazzy's hair, waving her hands ecstatically to get her mother's attention.

"I see it baby, good job. Now, how long can you keep that going?"

Just another second or two later the bubble burst, covering part of the little girl's face, running up her forehead, getting into her hair.

"Mom-mee! Get it out, get it out!"

"Hurry up Rach…I got surgery to perform."

"Hmmmm….hang on, hang on. There, finished. Your own home styled fantail braid."

"K. Sofie, come on. Let's get this gum thing under control."

"Remember baby, peanut butter, it's what always got it out of your hair."

Hotch managed to get a good chuckle off of that. The more that he saw how Alecta and her kids, and now her mother, were so much alike, he fell even more under her spell.

Alecta got up out of the floor and leaned down to pick up Sofie and hiked her up on her hip, carrying the little girl through the kitchen door and settling her on the island in the middle. Then Alecta walked over to the cabinet where Mrs. 'Ouisa kept some of her non-perishables and began looking for the peanut butter. She found it; it was up on the second shelf in the cabinet. And in a house with ceilings that were nearly 20ft high, the kitchen cabinets were installed with average or taller people in mind. there was no way that Alecta could reach the shelf she needed without getting a chair or stool to stand in; and in that gown, as long as it was, that wasn't the best idea, she'd break her fool neck for sure.

Walking to the kitchen door, swinging it open, "Um, can a tall person come here please?"

The group in the living room could hear Sofie cackling in laughter through the slightly opened door.

"What's the problem doll face?" Kevin asked.

"M-m-m-…Mommy…Mommy can't reach the shelf the peanut butter's on," Sofie could be heard to say, giggling in hysterics; that is until the next sound they heard was 'OW!'.

With that, Alecta whipped her head around and looked in the direction of her little girl, who was still laughing, and this caused her to crack up, too.

"Lex what happened?"

"Nothing pops,' she had to stop to giggle, 'Sofie just fell off of the island laughing at me."

And with that Alecta was gone, she was laughing so hard she collapsed to the floor in a fit of giggles, bumping the louvered door open just a bit further, which allowed the room to see that Sofie was, in fact, alright and began to laugh even harder at her mother's reaction. They began pointing at each other and laughing until tears came out of their eyes.

"Oh dear lord, they both get completely silly when they get tired." Mrs. King was heard to mutter, and both Sofie and Alecta snorted with laughter when they heard her. Their faces were turning red as beets.

"We still have to get the gum out of Sofie's hair, nanna." Rachel finally managed to find her voice, through giggles.

"Oh don't you start, too." Mrs. King got up, stepping over her daughter, and walked into the kitchen; she scooped Sofie up and sat her back on the counter. Since Mrs. King was nearly six inches taller than her daughter, it was much easier for her to try to reach the container of peanut butter to finally be able to apply some to the gum in the little girl's hair.

Alecta and Sofie were still in the midst of their giggling fit and Mrs. King would have had a devil of a time working with Sofie if she had not already had the same experience with Alecta.

Mrs. 'Ouisa couldn't help but start laughing, "Almost nothing has changed in nearly 40 years, eh Daniel?"

"You're telling me."

Alecta had taken to just lying in the floor on her back in the door way where she had been toppled by laughter. You could still see her shoulders shaking with the remaining laughter that was still escaping. Her braid had managed to fall over her shoulder and was still lying down the length of her torso.

While lying in the floor, "Hey Kev, what ever happened to David?"

"You stay away from David. He's still got it out for you."

Alecta rolled over onto her stomach, resting her chin in her right hand, "I'm just asking. Does he still walk with that nasty limp?"

"Yes, and he's been pissed at you ever since. He had planned to go to college on a football scholarship until you crossed his path."

"I wish I could say I was sorry. But I hate to lie."

"Who is David?" Emily asked.

"He was one of the biggest dick heads I knew growing up. He thought he was so great. And he got served by a 13 year old girl. But that's our princess; always making the douche bags look even worse in front of God and everybody."

"What did you do Davis?"

"Rossi, why is it always my fault?"

"Uh, maybe because it often is sweet pea."

"He…."

"Don't even. You were 13, unlicensed. You accepted a race out at 'Dead Man's Curve' _against David_. You managed to roll an unmarked cop car in the process; it rolled over like four times. You broke your arm doing it…."

"But I won, right?"

"Besides the point Lex."

"How. I finished the race. And I don't have a permanent injury."

"Well just stay away from him, yeah. We have enough to worry about without getting David fired up about a rematch."

Alecta had decided to rest her head on her hands that were crossed, one over the other on the floor. She was getting tired quickly, running out of steam. Then as she lay there in the floor, Alecta raised her hands to the back of her head and began taking the braid out…she wasn't one to sleep with them in, it had just been a fun little thing to do since the girls had wanted to play 'Beauty Shop'. Whatever kept them occupied and calmed down before bed was golden.

Hotch tried to appear to be reading a book that he had left on the coffee table earlier. But, it wasn't possible; he had gone over the same exact line about 10 times already. And he was pretty sure that none of the other profilers in the room were buying his effort; especially when you consider the grins on the faces of Rossi and Prentiss. Nice, now he had the two of them that were going to be on his ass. He knew that Derek knew something; but Derek had the tact to not say something shifty about it. Whereas, Rossi, being a bit older and having gone through his fair share of women, had no qualms about razzing Hotch about his feelings for Alecta.

"Lex, go to bed. We can put the girls down; it's not that big a deal."

"But I…" she had to stop mid-sentence for a huge yawn.

"Honey, go to bed."

"That requires getting up."

"Trifling, nobody told you to lay in the floor."

Hotch figured she was trying to bait either him or Kevin, it was hard to figure out which one. Kevin, because he knew her so well, and she wanted to start some shit. Or, Hotch, because he was fairly new in her life and she was trying to see how far he could be pushed. Taking the bait, Hotch walked over and began to lift her up off of the floor; he honestly only intended to lift her into the standing position and make her walk the rest of the way on her own. But, apparently where he had placed his hands, one in her left shoulder area, and one on her right hip, were rather ticklish. She balled up and started laughing out loud again and begged him to let her go. By the time he pulled his hands away she already had tears in her eyes for laughing so hard again.

You could hear Sofie in the next room with her grandmother, still picking gum out of her hair, laughing because she heard her mother laugh.

"M-M-Mommy's gots tickle spots,' her little girl laughter lit up the room. "Get her, Emmy!"

"Oh, no!" Alecta balled up as tight as she could as Emma and Jazzy came running over and pounced on her, trying their hardest to tickle Alecta to death.

Hotch had just barely dodged out of the way before being run over by two little tots that were giggling maniacally the whole trot over there. Whatever spots the kids were hitting must have been good ones. Alecta was crying even harder with laughter in mere seconds.

"Make 'em stop or I'm gonna pee on myself!" Alecta exclaimed short of breath for laughing so hard.

Sasha and Eva stepped forward and got their hands on the kids and freed their mother; but they couldn't help but wipe tears of laughter from their own eyes. And, once the kids were sat back down on the sofa, Oleg high fived Emma.

"Help me up, boss man." Alecta shot a hand into the air, which Hotch took and pulled her quickly to her feet.

"Emma, I can't believe you sold me out. Tsk tsk tsk. I will have think of a way to get you next."

Alecta squinted an eye at her little girl and smiled, causing the girl to have residual giggles, knowing her mother wasn't serious.

Alecta put her forehead against her hands as she stood next to Hotch, and sort of massaged her temples a little bit, and then grabbed her stomach, running for the stairs.

"What's wrong, baby?" Kevin asked.

There was no time to reply as she tried to climb the stairs, but becoming frustrated she wasn't able to move fast enough. Once again, pulling a 'Morgan', Hotch ran to her and scooped her up and ran her up the rest of the stairs, and deposited her on her feet in the bathroom. He had lived with a pregnant woman before, that particular stomach contact meant that she was about to lose her dinner.

"Go away,' she mumbled as she sank to her knees in front of the toilet, grabbing her wildly curly hair with one hand and bunching it up out of her way.

"_Go away_? I'm not going away."

After tossing cookies into the commode and wiping her mouth on her hand, 'Do you really like it when people watch you yak up a full meal?"

"Rachel and Mrs. 'Ouisa are taking care of the kids. Your mother is taking care of getting the gum out of Sofie's hair. What do you want?"

Alecta just groaned as another wave of nausea hit.

Once it was over, 'A little secret…"

"Yeah."

"I hate being pregnant. I love my kids to death. But pregnancy sucks out loud. I can't stand those women that say it's the best thing ever and they love it. I wanna punch 'em in the throat. I am _not_ a patient person for one thing. I hate waiting for the kid to get here. And then on top of that, I usually wind up on bed rest." With that she threw up an index finger to pause the conversation while she had another round of vomiting. Hotch got up and got her a wet wash cloth to be able to wipe her mouth a bit better. She took that from him and he got his hands on a second one and dampened it with some warm water.

As she finished being sick yet again, Hotch sat down in the floor next to her, with his back against the bathroom vanity behind him, wiping her face off with the second damp cloth. Alecta pulled away from him looking at him funny.

"What are you doing?"

"Trying to help out."

"But anyway….When a woman says she enjoys being pregnant, it's all lies. What woman in her right mind actually likes not being able to see her feet, or fit at tables at restaurants, or sleep in whatever position she chooses in the bed? It's a load of crap I tell you.

When I was carrying Sofie and Emma, I was so sick…just like with Rachel. Both times I had come down with a combination of bronchitis and double pneumonia. I ran fevers constantly. One time I got laryngitis, which some people think is a blessing, anything to keep me quiet. And I had sinus infections during both pregnancies. So I was going to cough up a kid and couldn't breathe.

With the kids I had with Yuri…Sasha and Eva were only my second…ok…third pregnancy and they were twins. I was put on bed rest at the sixth month, especially after I collapsed that one time. And with Oleg…I love that boy, but that pregnancy was rough. I was put on strict bed rest in my fourth month, which was around the same time that they found out I was even pregnant to begin with. I almost killed Yuri. I hated being cooped up. And don't even get me started on labor. Oleg was sort of like shooting a Volvo through a straw. This kid better not be that big, or I'm never going to have sex again."

With that she leaned back over the commode and was sick some more. This round wasn't as bad as the one before, and she was able to sit back up soon enough.

"You should go to bed boss man, I'm gonna be here a while. Just tell Kevin to toss me a pillow and a blanket. I'll be fine."

Hotch gave her his best 'Boss man' hairy eyeball, letting her know that he was in charge.

"Of course you know, I had to try. But for real, go get me a pillow and a blanket. This floor is going to get cold."

Hotch went into his shared room and grabbed a pillow and the comforter off of his bed and took it back to her. She took them from him and climbed in the tub, wrapping the comforter around herself and setting the pillow up so she could lay her head against it. Hotch could tell she was wearing out.

"Mommy, mommy! Where you at? I gotsa give you hugs, and Emmy, too." You could hear Sofie out in the hall and she was knocking on the door with her little balled up fists.

"Mr. Agent man, let me see my mommy! Now!" Sofie was getting riled up as the time ticked by, and Rachel was out there trying to get her to go to bed.

"NO! I wanna see my mommy!"

Sofie had shoved Rachel's hand off of her shoulder and continued to knock on the door, getting more insistant.

"You better let her in before she figures out how to take the pins out of the hinges."

"She'd do that?"

Alecta shot Hotch the hairy eyeball right back, 'You had to ask that question?"

Hotch got up and opened the door; Sofie came bounding into the room, her bangs a little damp from where they had gotten the gum out of her hair and cleaned of the peanut butter as well.

"Mommy? Whatchu doing in the baff tub, wiff a banket? Emmy, mommy has a banket in the baff tub! Come see. Bring Jazzy."

The other two little girls came running into the room, stopping at the side of the tub.

"Ma? Wha's wrong mommy, why you in the tubs wiff a banket?" Emma asked in a much calmer tone than her sister. Jazzy looked on worried; her mommy was sick and went away, and she was staying with Alecta and her kids. What happens if Alecta got sick like her mother, where would she go?

"Mommy's tummy hurts, I'm just a little sick, that's all."

"Lexa?" Jazzy asked carefully.

"Yes baby?"

"You're not gonna be sick like mommy, right?"

"What do you mean baby?"

"Well…well…That man made mommy get sick; and she went away, she tol' me to stay wiff you. But if you get sick like mommy….?"

"Come here kiddo." Alecta could see the tears gathering around the rims of Jazzy's little eyes. She knew what the little girl was thinking, and she knew that the child wasn't sure how to say what she was thinking. She pulled Jazzy into her lap in the tub, the little girl straddled Alecta's hips and laid her head on her shoulder; Jazzy's eyes were getting heavy. "I'm not going anywhere. The world has to work just a little bit harder to try to get rid of me than this.

Not to be outdone, Sofie and Emma climbed into the tub and settled in lying against their mother's chest. Alecta wrapped her arms around the three little girls and started to doze off. Rachel came up the stairs, trying to find out where the kids had gotten to. Seeing them in the bathroom crowding Alecta in the tub, Rachel came to fetch them.

Alecta's eyes opened briefly, 'No, leave them be. They 're almost asleep."

"But momma, what happens if you get sick again?"

Alecta grumbled under her breath, but she relinquished the girls to Rachel and her own mother. The girls grumbled under their own breath at the idea of being taken away from Alecta.

"Ooh! Wait, wait, wait!" Emma was the one that was getting all worked up this time.

Rachel was getting tired of the shenanigans, 'What is it Em?"

"The last time mommy had a tummy ache…."

"Mommy…."Sofie said in an excited whisper.

"What is it?" Jazzy was catching up to the conversation.

"We will tell you in a minute Jazz, don't worwy."

With that, Rachel and Mrs. King took the kids down the hall to their own room.

"For real boss man, you should go to bed. I could be here 'til morning. I'm used to very little sleep."

"On our team we've been known for working nearly 48 hours straight under some circumstances."

"Ok. Suit yourself."

"How did you meet Kevin, I don't remember if you ever told me or not."

"Kindergarten; there had been crayons involved." Alecta was climbing out of the tub.

"Where are you going?"

"I need to get something to drink and some crackers. You know, the pregnant girl buffet."

"Stay in here, I'll be back."

While he was gone, Alecta spent most of the next five minutes straight leaning over the commode tossing more of her cookies. By the time he got back with the bag of crackers and the soda, she had fallen asleep in the bathroom floor; the comforter and pillow were still in the bath tub. Shaking his head, with a smile on his face, he stepped over her and grabbed the comforter from the tub, wrapped it around her, and scooped her up. He took her to the room he was sharing with Rossi. This may not be the brightest idea of Hotch's life history. But he figured that if she got sick again someone would be there with her; never mind the fact that he could set her up in her own bed and stick a trash can beside her. And there was always the chance that if she woke up, under this new set of circumstances, she would freak out. The chances he would have to take….

The next morning, Rossi woke up about 7:30 and went downstairs to start some coffee. As he gathered his clothes together to go change in the bathroom, he looked around the room to see how Hotch was sleeping. When Rossi went to bed the night before, Hotch was still sitting in the bathroom floor with a very sick Alecta who was hunched over the commode.

Looking around, Rossi saw Hotch sleeping on his right side, his head resting solidly on the pillow. Next to him, sleeping on her left side, facing him, her head barely on the bottom edge of the pillow was Alecta; her left hand was palm up under her left cheek. Either one of them looked like they were more relaxed in sleep than anyone had ever seen them before. Hotch didn't seem so stoney faced, and the worry lines were gone. And Alecta seemed to just be relaxed period; awake, she was always so tense, she had her guard up 24/7. Hotch had his right arm draped around her waist lightly, not really holding on to her; Rossi suspected that had more to do with the idea of her having to get up in the middle of the night to be sick again. He knew if Hotch had any say in it at all the grip would likely have been tighter.

Trying not to impose, Rossi finally got himself together and went to the bathroom and got changed and washed his face, getting ready for the day. He figured he wouldn't say anything to Hotch about the sleeping arrangements just yet. He honestly wasn't sure how certain people in this house…Kevin….would take the news, even if it was completely altruistic. Finishing his morning routine, he put his pajamas back in the bedroom and went on down stairs; he wasn't the first one down, Mr. Dan'el had beaten him and already had a steaming cup waiting for the Agent, with his favorite section of the paper.

The night before, at dinner, there had been talk of the party to come. Early this afternoon everyone would be outside, swimming. There was an enormous in-ground pool in the yard. It was pushing 70ft long (not quite half the length of an Olympic sized pool); and at its deepest point the pool was about 25-30ft deep. This was a swimmer's pool. Kevin's parents had it installed years ago, to have huge parties with the friends and family. Later, on in the upcoming evening, would be the birthday party for Mr. Dan'el. There was a barn on the premises that had been outfitted with the proper electrical work and turned into a sort of club house for this sort of thing. You could easily fit close to 200 people in this thing, if that was your choice. There were tables that were being set up and decorations that had been going up in the days prior. They had completely renovated that old barn. It was a pretty nice venue now actually. At some point over the years they had even built a stage for live bands and other entertainment; it wasn't anything fancy, but it was quite nice none the less.

By 9:30 am Hotch woke up and looked around. He panicked. Alecta was nowhere to be seen. Before he freaked himself completely out, he checked outside on the porch; if she wasn't out there, he'd knock on the door to her room and give her the speech about the etiquette of leaving a bed.

As it was he found her, on the porch, curled up, laying in a ball on the floor, shivering. How long she had been out there was anybody's guess. He felt the hand of hers that was sticking out of the ball and it was so cold. He ran back in his shared room and grabbed the comforter from last night; he placed the comforter over her and tucked in the edges a bit and then sat down on the floor of the porch just a couple of feet away (in case she woke up swinging). Now he just waited for her to wake back up.

Within another 15 minutes he got his wish. Alecta's eyes opened first; she could see the river just beyond the edge of the yard…..that is once she peeked around the edge of the….comforter. _But the comforter was on the….__**Oh shit!**_ With that thought in her head she began to slowly sit up, not looking directly at Hotch yet, worried about if he'd be angry or not.

"What are you doing out here, Lex?"

His voice was barely louder than a whisper, realizing she was still just waking up, trying to shake the cobwebs out of her head.

"Nightmare; around….I don't know, maybe 8 or so. I….it made me feel….it…I came out here to get some air and fell back asleep."

"You're gonna catch your death out here like this, I don't care if it's the summer or not."

"Oh God, now you're starting to sound like my mother. Do I have to keep you two separated? Should Rossi be jealous?"

"What was the nightmare about?"

"It was nothing. I'm starving." Alecta got up, wrapping the comforter around her shoulders and walking/stumbling back inside the house towards the top of the stairs and down them, into the kitchen. She sat down at the table and looked at her breakfast and was glad it was simple. After last night she wasn't quite sure how much she should try keeping down; it was just a bagel with some cream cheese…one of her favorite food groups. She washed it back with a little orange juice, and then grabbed a homemade oatmeal cookie.

After grabbing her cookie she headed back to the stairs, still wrapped in her blanket, nibbling on her cookie; she went up to her room and began to change into her swimsuit.

When she left, Hotch looked around the room and noticed Rossi looking directly at him with a smirk that could have lit up midnight. Hotch just shook his head and ran his hands over his face. He knew what he had to do to head Rossi off at the pass.

"Kevin we need to talk."

Kevin followed Hotch out to the study down the hall. There Hotch informed him of the sleeping arrangements that happened the night before.

"You can take another shot at my jaw if that's what you want. But I wanted to be the one to come and tell you before things went too far and someone else told you about it and the story got blown way out of proportion."

"I'm not going to hit you again. It wouldn't do any good. Us fighting over something, anything, would just stress her out more. That's not a good idea under the best of circumstances. And right now, she's pregnant, and in the same zip code as her father…she has enough to worry about. Besides, I figure I'd let her make her own decisions about who she intends to stay with…if she'd ever come back to me, or if she'd go to someone else…It's really up to her. I'll be honest; I'd love nothing better than to take her back. In a perfect world that would be my solution to all of my problems. But, she's right. The day she left all those years ago, it hurt like hell. And I haven't handled it well over the years. She may have left for her own reasons, but I never made her feel like she had the option to come back. Through my treatment of the situation, I made her feel like she was totally worthless. That's my fault. I have to let her choose now what path is the right one for her. With the exception of Fletcher she's done alright on her own.

But, understand this. If you ever do her dirty, I am just a phone call away. And my aim is even better than yours." With that, Kevin smiled kindly at Hotch and walked away.

So that was over and done with; and Hotch had managed to keep all of his teeth; a good day so far.

The rest of the stragglers began to get changed into their swim suits.

Rachel was in a bikini in a killer shade of red. Of course she looked as good as any super model; good genes.

Garcia was in a great tankini that had a Moroccan sort of pattern with bright teal and copper colors (among others in it). She looked fabulous in it of course. And it went without saying that Derek's eyes were on her like a magnet once he saw her in it. It wouldn't take a profiler to know what was on his mind; taking the bathing suit off. Yep, when it came to Penelope, you could read Morgan like a book.

Emily had on a red bikini that looked great on her, contrasting nicely with her hair and eyes. Did the woman ever look bad in anything?

JJ was in a bright blue bikini, it brought out the blue in her eyes. Barbie.

Of course the men had on their swim trunks. You almost needed a mop and bucket once Garcia saw Derek coming down dressed in his, which were a very nice blue as well. Turnabout was fair play apparently.

Emily couldn't resist, 'Pen, you're drooling there sweetie."

"Hush, you're just jealous that my man is H-O-T and here."

Emily just winked at her. And Garcia gave Derek a sheepish grin; he gave her a wolfish one back, which caused her face to blush nearly crimson.

Rossi laughed at the two, it was definitely on later; hopefully he had remembered to pack his earplugs.

Rossi himself was where a pair of black swim trunks; old fuddy duddy.

Hotch was in a pair of coppery orange ones; when he and Jack had gone looking for some trunks before the trip, Jack had made the decision that his dad ought to have at least one thing in his wardrobe that wasn't a black suit.

Will was wearing a pair of red trunks, and Henry had a little pair that was similar to his daddy.

Jack was wearing a pair that had a wild Hawaiian print; he was a rambunctious little guy, he had to have color or die. Everyone joked that he was a bit like Garcia that way.

Kevin had on some trunks that were brown with white piping.

The three little girls had on their little swim suits; they were wearing one pieces.

Sofie, of course, ever the drama queen, had on a screaming red suit. If she got any more like her mother, it would be frightening.

Emma was wearing a great little purple and white suit that seemed to fit her quieter personality just right; she loved it so much. It had a design of a small bunch of white and green daisies on the front.

Jazzy was in a suit that combined pink and orange color blocks; she loved the bright colors and she and Emma were talking to each other about the colors in their suits and how much they liked them.

Sasha and Eva had on matching bikinis; they were a vibrant green, sort of a shamrock green. It was nearly the color of their eyes. And with their blonde hair, it was really lovely.

Oleg was wearing a pair of trunks that had a green and gold grid pattern that would make you think of one of the domes of St. Basil's Cathedral in Russia.

Finally, Alecta comes down. Hotch had been about to walk down the hall to the back door to go out to the pool when he saw her coming down the stairs. He tripped over the leg of the console table that sat against the wall opposite the stair case, nearly knocking it over in the process. She was in a bikini. Nobody had ever seen her wear so very little clothing, even the women were stunned. Instead of being a normal styled bikini like Emily's or JJ's, Alecta's was more of a sportier style. The top was built more like a tank top with wider straps and it gave more coverage across the girls; although that didn't really stop her cleavage, no sir. The bottoms were boy-cut style to give more coverage across her back side. Even though there may have been slightly more material in hers as compared to Em or JJ, it still showed off her figure to a T. And the pattern was a funky retro sort of floral print in teal and brown and white, it all just fit together so very well.

When she heard Hotch stumble over the hall table, Alecta gave a short chuckle as she finished making her way to the bottom of the stairs. She had her teal colored terry cloth cover up thrown over her arm.

She walked right past Hotch smiling, 'What's wrong boss man? Did the mean old table jump out and bite you? Bad table, tsk tsk tsk."

With that she continued on her way to the pool, the three little girls trotting down behind her.

"Hey honey, what kept you so long? Momma has wanted that table moved for ages."

"Chaz called. She'll be here with 2 a little later; I told her to come on to the back, that we would be in the pool." Alecta kept walking, running her fingers through her hair, tossing it over her shoulder as if it was every day's business that she made men trip over furniture.

Mrs. King came down stairs laughing at Kevin's comment, 'Leave the man alone. The poor guy may have coordination issues."

Mrs. King, Rachel as Rossi had become accustomed to calling her, came downstairs in a one piece that had a little more coverage around the hip area. It was in hues of blues and greens; it looked really good on her with her still blonde hair and blue eyes.

Mrs. 'Ouisa had on one that was in shades of blues and purples; upon the two women seeing each other they started laughing and pointing at each other.

Rossi, Hotch, and Mr. Dan'el all started laughing as they made their way to the pool.

Once outside, Alecta took off and climbed up the ladder to the high dive platform they had put in; it was a long one. She began running and then did a cartwheel into a series of back handsprings and, as she got to the edge of the platform she rotated on one hand before going over. Once over the edge she did a nose dive into the deep end.

"Ever the show off." Kevin shook his head and did a cannonball into the deep end. The others seemed to mosey into the pool at their own pace, with the exception of Sofie and Emma. Both of them began racing up the ladder to the high dive like their mother. Without a bit of trepidation like most tots would have, they each did their own little dives off of the platform, joining their mother on the bottom. From above the surface everybody could see the little girls and Alecta playing around with something on the bottom; it looked like rings that were on the bottom…the kind you would toss down there to just have to turn around and go get them. In a minute or so the three of them came back up. The two little girls squealing with delight about the game of fetch they were going to play with Jazzy. Alecta dove back under the water and was swimming up to the shallow end, the little girls were following her above the surface.

As soon as Alecta had gotten to a point where her feet would touch bottom, she came up. The water was deep enough that barely more than her shoulders stuck out of the water and she had to flip her hair over so she could see.

"Do I still have it?" she asked look towards Kevin but throwing Hotch a wicked wink as she went; apparently it went unnoticed by everyone else.

"Seriously, you have to ask that?"

"Eh. So are ya grilling pops?"

"Yes, I'll fire it up in a bit. Don't worry."

The afternoon was quite fun. Chaz had shown up with her little girl, 2, for a bit around 12:30-1:00. Around the same time, Esteban and Maria had shown up with their four kids; Isidro, Yesenia, Isias, and Erica. And shortly thereafter, Victor and Zoe brought Niko. Yesenia was about 5, so she was very close in age to Jazzy, 2, Sofie, Emma, and Niko; and yet she was also close in age between Jack and Henry. Even Erica and Isias hung out with the nine of them; they were closer in age to them than they were to the older kids, Sasha, Eva, and Oleg.

At some point in the afternoon they were playing games in the yard as well as swimming. They were going to play a bit of volley ball. It came time for Alecta to serve the ball. Derek being Derek was taunting her about being able to walk under the net without ducking, trying to throw her off a little bit.

Giving Derek a hairy eyeball, Alecta tossed the ball in the air and took one hell of a swing at it as she leapt into the air, sending it sailing. Derek had to duck to try to reach it, at which he failed. Upon settling back into her usual stance she noticed Hotch watching her like a hawk. After a few more minutes of playing, Alecta ducked out of the game, Chaz taking her spot.

"So, boss man, how's it going? Enjoying the day so far?"

"Yes, quite a bit. What are you trying to pull?"

"I'm sure I don't know what you mean."

"You've got me walking into doors and furniture. What are you doing?"

"You kissed me. You are the one that put it out there that you were into me…."

"And you are the one that has made it perfectly clear that you weren't ready for anything serious. If I'm not mistaken, you ran in the completely opposite direction; I'm surprised you weren't screaming for the villagers to take up the pitchforks and torches. And here you are trying to push my buttons. What game is this?"

Leaning in, almost kissing him back in return for the one he gave her, but not quite, 'Well boss man, you're the master profiler, figure it out."

With that she jumped up and made her way back into the pool, this time walking down the steps into the water; purposely. She was making him watch her walk away, giving him something to think about. Once she got back into the water, just about waist deep, the ends of her hair floating in the water around her, she turned around and looked back over her shoulder at him and smirked.

By 5pm the pool party was starting to wind down a little bit. The smaller kids were being ushered in to the house to get baths, and rest for a bit before they went to the party.

Alecta finally got her shower, and washed the chlorine water out of her hair. She rolled her hair towel up and wrapped it around her hair a bit and dragged it out to the end and twisted her hair up in it to help wring out the excess water. She went back to her room and fell onto the bed, covering up with the sheet and a light blanket. She still felt like she was in the water floating around, it was kind of a fun feeling; and she was happy that the baby cooties had stayed away long enough for her to enjoy the afternoon. She slept hard during her little nap. She had a lot to think about…quite a lot.

There was a knock at her door about an hour later. Alecta was sleeping so hard that the person who knocked at the door had to come in to wake her up. Hotch reached over and shook her by the shoulder; Alecta sat up suddenly, her fists balled up, and ready to swing on whoever had placed their hands on her.

"Alecta, it's me! Wake up. It's Hotch."

Sitting up a little more correctly, coming out of her daze, she seemed to focus on Hotch's voice and snap out of it. He brushed the errant strands of hair out of her eyes. Once he was able to see her face, he saw that she had been in the middle of a nightmare when he woke her up.

"You have the best timing ever." She jumped out of bed, not willing to discuss it further, saying that she had to get dressed and ready for the party. With that she shoved Hotch out of the room, shutting and locking the door. But as she did this she suddenly had a quick thought about the look on his face as she pushed him into the hall way.

Alecta unlocked and opened the bedroom door, causing Hotch to look up from his task of walking away, "Thank you," she mumbled quickly and quietly, but looking into his eyes so that he knew for sure that she had meant it. Hotch nodded and walked away, going down stairs, and eventually making his way out of the house following Victor and Mr. Daniel and the others over down to the barn. The kids were running and playing the whole way there as usual. The women were still back at the house getting ready for the party.

Alecta took out the outfit that she had planned to wear for the party. It was a pair of busted old jeans that were so faded, and they had holes in all the right places. It looked like they were held together with a lick and a promise. She also put on a bright green camisole top that was nearly the same shade of green as the bathing suits that Sasha and Eva had worn. With her recent sun exposure and slight tanning effect, coupled with her dark hair and eyes, she looked hot in this color. She combed out her hair and pulled the few strands along the top and sides back and secured them with a little elastic that rested low down her back to keep her hair mostly out of her eyes. She didn't bother putting make-up on at all. It would have been a waste of time. She would merely sweat it off later at the party, if not during the walk over there…damned southern humidity. She did bring a light sweater with her. Humidity or not, sometimes it still got a little bit chilly at night; and besides, she never knew when she may start to feel a little to exposed and need to put it on to calm herself down.

Alecta left the house with her momma and her daughter and Mrs. 'Ouisa in toe, as well as Chaz and Penelope. Chaz had promised Kevin to keep an eye on Alecta as they made their way. Pen had been worried about if the outfit she had picked to wear that night was good enough. Garcia, who was back to being blonde the last few weeks, was wearing a shimmery yet smoky shade of blue silky top. It had wide, tank style straps. And was somewhat low cut, and gathered under the bustline. The neckline and 'sleeves' were lined with black lace, and the neck line gave a faux bias line, almost making the top seem like a wrap style, with the black lace going all the way down and continuing around the hem. It showed off the girls just right. Derek was a dead man. And she was wearing a pair of black slacks that looked nearly as fabulous on her as the top did. And shoes that matched her top, with no heel; this was odd for her, but even she had a slightly practical side…sometimes. Her hair was swept up in a bit of a bun with some curls falling out of the end of the bun and swinging freely.

"Did you see his reaction to you in your swimsuit? This will do just fine. Trust me." Alecta had told her to help her calm down a bit. She and Garcia were actually walking arm and arm to the party, chatting, trying to keep each other's nerves from acting up.

Upon arriving at the party, they saw that it was pretty much in full swing. The women jumped in getting their drinks and trading conversation with the other party goers. Alecta danced with so many people she had begun to lose count. There had been two guys that jumped up and were dancing with her that she had known for a long time, Ben and Nate. A song that the three of them had liked forever had come on; of all things to play it was a hip-hop song actually. The three of them began popping and locking just as if they were picking up where they left off. Everybody thought they were nuts, as usual. But it got a good bit of applause when they were finished; laughing at each other over the whole thing.

Soon, Alecta was sitting at a table with Kevin and Hotch and a few others, having a drink and taking a rest when Mr. Dan'el came up and sat down next to her. Alecta got up and sat on his lap crossways, putting her arms around his neck and giving him a good squeeze.

"Are you enjoying your party Pops?"

"I am. I really am. I'm so glad you came." He rested his head on her shoulder a bit and she stroked his hair, like she would her son, Oleg's. "But, you know what would make this a really great party for me?"

"Do tell old man."

He drew back and looked her in the eye.

"No. I can't…"

"I would love it if you would sing. I even had your guitar tuned."

"No. I haven't played in years. Not since…."

"Since when Lex?" Kevin chimed in.

"Not since….I don't know if I remember how."

"You wouldn't deny an old man the only thing he's asked for on his birthday now would you?"

Looking up at the ceiling of the barn, Alecta knew she'd been beaten. She truly didn't want to be up on that freaking stage in front of God and everybody. Nobody on the team knew that she had any clue how to play an instrument. And they had no idea that she could sing or had any particular talent outside of her chosen career at all. She hadn't played or sang since that one fight that she had gotten into years ago, with Fletcher. It was when she was pregnant with her second son….before she became pregnant with Sofie and Emma. She had been playing the guitar that she had at the house. The baby had been rowdy in her belly all day, she was tired and worn out from trying to deal with that, and it seemed that playing the guitar had gotten him to quiet down in there. And she hadn't been playing more than 10 minutes before Fletcher came home from being out at the store. He flew into a rage at her and beat her so bad. She was 7 months pregnant. She went into early labor from the beating; she had to call an ambulance to come and take her to the hospital, Fletcher turned around and left her after the beating. In the hospital, the baby boy was delivered; he didn't make it, he was born dead. He had received head wounds and other injuries of his very own from the beating. Alecta never sang or played anything after that. She couldn't bring herself to do it. Every time the thought crossed her mind, she would think about how that had gotten her baby boy killed and she would talk herself out of it.

Looking at Mr. Dan'el, she knew she couldn't deny him his birthday wish, there was no way.

"Yes. I'll do it." With that she pasted a happy face on and asked Mr. Dan'el to get the guitar for her. It was one that he had taught her how to play years ago. It was one of the things they had bonded over and it helped her accept him in her life faster than she might have otherwise. When she saw it she got a little teary eyed; but she sucked it up and took it from him and tossed the strap around her shoulder.

Mr. Dan'el went up and stood in front of the mic and made the announcement that she would be performing.

Walking up to the stage, Alecta took a deep breath and begged God to just get her through this without freaking out too much.

Hotch saw the emotions playing on her face, and he knew that whatever she said next was going to be something important; one way or the other it would be very important.

**POST AN: Holy crap! That was a long chapter. What in the world….**

**Ok the blue swim trunks that Morgan is wearing in the story are based on the infamous 'blue shorts' pic that has made a few laps around FB lately…if you want to know about that, hit me up there or through a pm, whatever, I can show it to you. Virginia….lol.**

**Next chapter should cover what happens at the party and some of what happens after that. **

**Wow, such a long chapter; it just kept going, there didn't seem to be a decent place to cut it off, not as far as I could tell anyway.**

**Per the usual; let me know what you think, good or bad. Later peeps.**


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: And here we are at chapter 7. Hopefully this won't go on as long as chapter 6 did; sheesh. Recapping; there was the pool party, and then we made it to part of the actual birthday party for Mr. Dan'el; Alecta had just taken the stage (under duress). In this chapter we will find out what she performs (there are a few selections that are apparently shouted out by the crowd). Depending on how this chapter moves along there may be more to be seen from her father (Jake) and one or two of his friends; but before you quote me on that, let's see how things roll out. Thanks for putting up with me thus far.**

**-She's faced the hardest times  
you could imagine  
and many times her eyes fought back the tears  
and when her youthful world  
was about to fall in  
each time her slender shoulders  
bore the weight of all her fears  
and a sorrow no one hears  
still rings in midnight silence,  
in her ears**

**Let her cry, for she's a lady  
let her dream, for she's a child  
let the rain fall down upon her  
She's a free and gentle flower,  
growing wild**

**And if by chance I should hold her  
let me hold her for a time  
but if allowed just one possession  
I would pick her from the garden,  
to be mine**

**Be careful how you touch her,  
for she'll awaken  
and sleep's the only freedom that she knows  
and when you walk into her eyes,  
you won't believe  
the way she's always paying  
for a debt she never owes  
and a silent wind still blows  
that only she can hear and so she goes**

**Let her cry, for she's a lady  
let her dream, for she's a child  
let the rain fall down upon her  
She's a free and gentle flower,  
growing wild**

**(Wild Flower, Skylark)**

Alecta stepped onto the stage and spoke into the mic, the fact that her voice was sort of small and young sounding hand never escaped the team, but it hadn't been so glaringly obvious either…until now.

"This is the first song that 'Pops' taught me how to play,' she explained as she began strumming. Before long it was very apparent that she was playing Fleetwood Mac's 'Landslide', complete with Lindsey Buckingham's guitar solo. Once she started playing it was as though she got lost in the sounds the guitar made and didn't' seem to care that there was upwards of 200 people watching her; she focused on the sounds and even if she had to look up at the crowd, it didn't seem to matter.

Morgan was sitting at a table on the picnic bench sort of at a straddle, Garcia was leaning back against him, between his legs, and his arms were around her holding her tightly. JJ and Will were seated in much the same way. Mrs. King was sitting next to Rossi, facing the stage, smiling happily at her daughter. The kids were scattered all over the place playing and listening to music. Hotch was locked on target. Reid had been talking to Chaz a bit.

Everyone saw her smile at Kevin and Chaz while she as singing. The next thing JJ and Morgan know, the two of them get up and walk away. Soon enough they are followed by Victor and the boys. Something was up, but nobody knew why. As she ended 'Landslide', Alecta began to pluck a couple of strings, grinning, her mood seemingly lifted for the moment anyway.

"This is just for shits and giggles, 'cause ya'll loved it so much the last time."

Kevin and crew had walked out, each with their own guitars and stood in various places on the stage; within a few notes it was clear that they were playing 'Hotel California'. At the end of the song Alecta had every intention of leaving the stage, but people started requesting things. The look on her face plainly told the people at her table, i.e. the team that she had no idea this was going to happen.

"What first?"

Chaz ran back up to the stage and whispered something in her ear. Alecta rolled her eyes.

"No. Next request."

"Lex,' Chaz pouted cutely. Alecta shook her head, still saying 'no'.

"Fine." Chaz leaned in and whispered something else.

"Yeah, ok. That'll do." Chaz clapped ecstatically and ran back down to her spot at the table.

Third song starts, and it was 'Again and Again' by Jewel.

The entire time that she played, there were a few party goers that got up and danced with their significant others; even Morgan and Garcia.

As she neared the end of the last song that she played, Alecta stood up and all but threw the guitar at Mr. Dan'el; she couldn't wait to get rid of it.

Alecta made her way to the line for food. She was hungry. But once she got there, her stomach wasn't having it. After standing at one of the tables of food for a minute or two, trying to calm her roiling stomach she realized it was doing no good. Apparently there was nothing at this table that appealed to whatever life form was currently living inside of her rent free. She even grumbled to her stomach to tell it as much as she walked back to her table and sat beside Hotch.

"You know, I'm letting you ride around in there, not charging rent, and already I've been as sick as a dog. And at that to your baby cooties….pay back is coming Peanut."

"What did you say?" Hotch had heard her talking to herself.

"Nothing, merely ruminating on why this baby of mine sees fit to make me want to yak at the sight and smell of food. I'm so hungry I think I could eat the tires off our car. And I just tried to fix a plate and it was the worst idea in the long, sad history of bad ideas. I must think of a suitable form of payback for this chap…only to be exacted when he or she is old enough to hate me for it. I can't live off of oatmeal cookies for the next 5 months. Although….nah, never mind….I just wanna eat something. Damn it!"

"Oh, no; she'll be ready to snap soon." Kevin said jokingly as he sat down; only to jump right back up when he realized he'd been stabbed in the ass with a fork she swiped.

"Hey!"

Alecta only grinned, 'the baby made me do it. It doesn't like it when you talk shit about its momma."

"Alecta, some of the others want you to play some more."

"I have to go." Alecta jumped up and took off, sprinting away from Mr. Dan'el and his request.

Hotch got up to follow her. He hadn't liked the idea of her going very far on her own since that scene at the diner. By the time he had caught up with her she was walking several yards ahead; Hotch sauntered up to her right side, and she just looked at him.

"What do you think you're doing out here alone?"

"I had to get some air. The smell of the food was making me miserable. And if I had to play and sing one more song I was going to snap. I haven't played in years, not since….doesn't matter. Anyway, 20 or 30 years ago, 85% of the people in that room couldn't give two shits about me. That one older blonde lady…"

"Yeah."

"First grade teacher. She actually slapped me across the face hard enough to leave a hand sized bruise on my cheek. She thought I was getting smart with her, but I wasn't. She had told me to sit down in my seat. I told her that I couldn't sit down. And she hit me. I wasn't being a smart ass, Hotch, I promise I wasn't. But the beatings had been worse the day before and the day before that, and it hurt too bad to sit down. I don't guess she saw the bruises all over my arms, or if she did she didn't know what they were from or didn't care. And she smacked me across the face. It stunned me so bad I fell to the floor."

She walked on a little more….

"That one guy that asked me to play the next to last song…"

"Yes."

"One day when I had ventured into town, I was maybe 8 or 9….I was hungry. I was digging into trashcans on the side of the road. And he saw me and just pushed me out into the street on my ass. I skinned up my hands and knees a little bit. I hadn't been to school in days at that point because I had been a little sick, and if I wasn't able to go to school, I wasn't able to eat the lunch that Mrs. 'Ouisa had packed for me. And they were too afraid of daddy to come out to the house; and I was too afraid of him to venture to their house. I was scared he would catch me one day when he was on his way home.

For nearly everybody in that room, I can tell you everything they ever did or didn't do to me or for me. I never forgot. I can forgive most anything. But I never forgot. They try to be good upstanding citizens, but I was the gum on their shoes. A bony kid with ragged clothes and covered in bruises, that smelled like hell because there was nobody to take care of me or teach me how to do it myself. And they all hated me for it.

Whatever. Hypocrites, all of them."

Walking down the dirt road with her, with moonlight the only light to see by, Hotch had to admit that if it wasn't for what he knew happened here, this would be a lovely little town. It had its own charm for sure. And there was something about getting to know more about her that made it that much more appealing of a place.

"Stop, and be quiet." Alecta held up her right hand to his chest to halt his motion.

"What's going on?" Hotch questioned in a whisper.

"There are lights on at the old place." Alecta kept walking towards the old house, boldly, not giving a damn about being seen.

"Do you think this is a good idea? What with your dad knowing you're in town and everything? Davis, stay away from there. Wait until daylight, and we have more people with us."

"Is Hotch 'my boss' asking or is Hotch 'my friend' asking?"

"Does it matter?"

Alecta just looked at him. With her pale skin and dark hair and eyes, she was quite eerie looking by the moonlight, she made him think of some of the ghosts he had seen earlier this week. She tilted her head to the side and waited for him to finish the question, with that she gave a little little snort and proceeded to walk past him at a good clip.

"Alecta, stop! It's not just you this time. You are pregnant, or have you forgotten that fact?"

Turning on him quickly, the words coming through gritted teeth, 'That is the whole reason I am doing this. I have lived my entire life looking over my shoulder, terrified to go to sleep, terrified to wake up. Can't eat, can't sleep. I have turned myself into a robot; hunting suspects down. It never stops. I don't want my kids to have that same life."

Hotch could only follow her as she continued on her mission. She crept up to the porch, climbing the steps, and got down low on the floor, crawling up to the window, Hotch stayed as close as he could.

"Isn't this trespassing?"

"No, now shut up, or you'll get us caught."

"How can this not be trespassing?"

Alecta sat up and turned to Hotch and placed a little hand over his mouth, well most of his mouth.

"Please hush. It's not trespassing because, well, I grew up in this house, as did nearly every generation of my immediate family. Secondly, when the trial came around and daddy was getting sent to prison, the courts awarded the house and estate to me. This pile of bricks is in my name, as is every acre that it sits on. So whoever is in there are the ones breaking the law. Now, please, be quiet."

Hotch nodded from behind her little hand which she removed and turned back to the window, watching what was going on. It was only a second or two later and she turned away from the window, her back hitting the wall behind her, her breath was in short pants.

Grabbing Hotch's hand she bounded off of the porch, "We have to go. We have to go now."

"What's wrong?"

She wouldn't stop; once she was off of the porch she let go of Hotch and broke into a run.

"Alecta, wait a second."

She kept running, not looking back. Thank God his eyes had adjusted to the darkness and low lighting of the moon, he had to keep up with her and find his way back to the Eason's house without her aid.

She ran the entire way back to the house, not stopping. She hit the steps leading to the house mere seconds before Hotch. And she kept running up the stairs, tripping over two or three as she went, still not stopping. Hotch was able to finally hear that she was crying. She ran to the ballroom and Hotch tried to follow her.

Putting her hand up to his chest to stop him again, "No, you stay." With that she shut the double doors and locked it. Hotch stayed outside the room, right outside the door. He could hear her pacing, talking to someone…Abigail maybe? Her voice was low; he couldn't really make out the words she was saying. Then another door shut inside the ballroom. He took this chance to try to come inside of the room. He struggled with the door for a moment. It wouldn't budge, she'd locked it apparently. Thinking about the way things usually work around here, Hotch looked up towards the ceiling, shaking his head in disbelief at what he was about to say.

"Abigail, let me in. Please. I just want to make sure she's alright." He waited a moment, thinking at first he would have to call on that Revolutionary Patriot, Daniel to get any help. Suddenly, he heard the lock turn. Abigail must have had time to think it over, and opened the door for him. Hotch listened for any sounds that Alecta might be making. He heard her rifling around in the 'museum'. Kevin came up to the side of Hotch.

"This is what she does when she gets stressed out. She muddles through things in that room and rearranges things or just puts them back in the order she found them in. It's her room full of memorabilia. We have collected things from the Revolutionary, Civil, WWI, WWI wars. There may even be a thing or two in there from the Korean or Vietnam wars. Most of the really old stuff, we found it digging around the back yard and the open fields close by. Some of the things from like WWI and beyond were given to her by some of those old geezers that you saw in the diner. Her special collection includes things she got from Ollie and some of his old pen pals that were in the Royal military back in Great Britain. Ol' Ollie, he was part of His Majesty's Royal Air Force during WWII, back before the Queen had to take power. He actually met George VI on several occasions. Lex used to love listening to his stories about the war and the people he met…shit, she still does.

So, what happened this time? The only time that she gets this frustrated is when it has something to do with Jake."

"She saw lights on over at the old house, and she went to investigate. She looked through one of the windows on the porch and she just….she took off running back over here and I played hell keeping up with her. She still hasn't told me what she saw. I had to ask your friend Abigail to unlock the door to the ballroom so I could even make it this far."

"And she listened? Hmmm. That is strange. Abigail is known to be headstrong and obstinate, even after being dead for over 200yrs. She's not known for her cooperation. Ezra is some better. But in the past, when Lex has locked herself in here, I have had to get Daniel to pop the lock….or on rare occasions, Dorian.

As protective of her as Daniel can be, Abigail is waaaay more so. I think Lex reminds her a bit of her, during life. I dunno; they've talked…you know how women are. Not much has changed in 200 years. Just give her a little time to calm down. Jake really gets her wound up and it doesn't take much."

"Kevin she was crying, and running so fast that she tripped up several stairs as she ran. She was practically deaf, mute, and blind with the fear. She just kept running."

"Just give her a little time to calm down. She gets like this when it comes to Jake. He really just…." Kevin explained, giving a shrug of exasperation.

Hotch nodded, but didn't leave the room, Kevin walked back out to go back to the party. Hotch sat on the floor in the corner, leaning against the wall, waiting.

Moving around to lean his back against the door to the room that she was hiding in, and speaking to her through the door, Hotch could hear Alecta sniffing, "What did you see Alecta?"

Inside her little museum, Alecta had gotten her hands on a letter and sat down against the other side of the door still sniffling. The letter was one of her favorite things, reading it always calmed her down.

"Alecta…"

"You don't want to ask me that."

"I want to know what you saw."

"No. You don't." She sniffed. She looked over the letter she held. It was from one of Ollie's friends from the RAF. He had passed away years ago; he had sent Ollie letters over the years, sending with them little medals and ribbons he'd gotten for his service during _THE_ war. He'd sent them to Ollie for him to give to Alecta; his name was Ian.

"Well at least come out. I won't ask you anymore about it…."

"Okay."

"For now."

"That's low. Abigail…"

As Hotch stood up from his position in front of the door, he felt a pressure on his left chest area, near his shoulder, give a pretty sturdy shove.

"Nice. So that's the game, eh."

Alecta chuckled a little bit as she opened the door.

"You little shit."

"You have to take me and _ALL_ the baggage that might cling to me. Still love me now?"

Alecta walked out of the ball room.

"Where are you going to go now?" Hotch really wanted to know. They passed by Garcia and Morgan as they entered the hallway.

Alecta grinned at them, "Just don't get too carried away tonight, yeah."

Garcia had the good sense to blush profusely; Morgan only winked, grinning wolfishly. Alecta chuckled as she walked past.

"Well?"

"Well what boss man?"

"Where are you going?"

"Don't worry; I'm not going near that house again; at least not tonight." Alecta visibly shivered a bit from the thought of what she saw through the window.

She watched as Hotch fought hard to keep his word and not ask her about it again. She quietly said 'Thank You,' and went about her way.

"I don't know where I'm going. I just know that I have to find something to eat…that food at the party wasn't doing it. I'm hungry enough to snatch the tires off of your truck. And those damned cookies and orange juice are only gonna get me so far. Wonder if the little crumb snatcher likes mashed potatoes and gravy with fried chicken….."

Hotch followed her to the kitchen watched her dig through the refrigerator. As she dug into the leftovers in the fridge, Chaz came out to the house.

"Cop a squat sis. You want any?"

"Nah. I had some of the stuff at the party. The dinner out there didn't suit 'Squish' I take it."

"Too right. That and the crowd. All of those freaking people."

"Hypocrites. All of them."

Hotch smiled, 'That's exactly what Alecta said earlier."

"It doesn't surprise me in the least. It's the truth."

"Ooh! I'll be right back. Hang on….if the microwave beeps before I get back, just set my stuff on the island, please."

With that Alecta ran upstairs and rifled through her bags looking for something specific. She came running back into the kitchen around 5 minutes later carrying an old busted photo album, it was held shut with a strip of cloth that she had tied around it….the cloth looked like it had been part of a baby blanket once upon a time. The album was so full that the cover had started to bow out a little bit, and the spine had started to break away from the rest of it.

"They do make more of these ya know?" Chaz asked her as she hopped up on the kitchen island with Alecta.

"Shut up. Don't pick on my book."

"And this rag?"

"You remember the baby blanket?"

"Yeah, it was your great grandmother's, grandmothers, your mom's, and yours."

"Yep. And then it was Rachel's; it started tearing up a few years ago. This was around the edging of it. I've been able to save most of it. Sasha and Eva, and then Sofie and Emma….they have all fought over control over the blanket. Anyway, I knew by the last letter you sent me that you wanted me to bring this. So. Ta Da."

The whole time Alecta had been talking, Chaz had been munching off of the plate of food. Leaning over she grabbed a paper towel and wet it under the faucet that was attached to the sink that was part of the island. Alecta was swinging her left foot back and forth, bumping the heel on the cabinetry beneath the counter top; she had grabbed a drumstick and was tearing into it and grabbing her own dampened paper towel. Watching her Hotch was yet again struck by how much she was like her daughters and vice versa. And she had to ask if he still loved her; then he wasn't doing something right.

After cleaning her hands off, Alecta pulled her hair back with a little elastic pony-tail holder; Chaz decided to take the album over to the table to keep looking at it while Alecta chose to stay seated on top of the island, chomping away on her chicken.

"Who is _THIS_?" Chaz asked as she came to a picture of a three very tall men that were all quite handsome.

"Which one? They're all nice looking."

"Yeah. But the one in the middle is…."

"_That_ is my old pal, Sky. I miss him. I could hook you two up if you wanted. You have a lot of stuff in common. You're in law-enforcement. He's retired from detective work. He's good with kids, he practically helped Lady Heather raise Rachel while I was under-cover and during the time I was committed. And you have a kid. You're taller than me, he's taller than me…."Alecta just smiled impishly at the last comment.

"Yeah but saying we're both taller than you is like saying grass is green."

"Oh, shut up." Alecta giggled as she flicked a spoonful of mashed potatoes at Chaz, hitting her target…the bridge of Chaz's nose.

"You think he'd be into me?"

"Seriously? Amazon Barbie, legs to your chin. And you carry a gun…that you know how to use. I can't believe you asked me that. You were one of the most popular girls in school. Hell, you were friends with 'Shitney'. Even _IF_ things had been different, there was no way I could ever have competed against the two of you. In school, the two of you and your little friends made me sick. Ya'll had the greatest clothes, your hair was always in place. You were both so perfect.

Most of my life I've spent playing catch up. And no matter what I do, it's never enough. It's like Whitney said the other day. I'm always going to be somebody's whore. That's all anyone is ever gonna remember."

"You really believe that?"

"Out of the mouths of skanks and all that."

"Do you know how many times we have gone somewhere together and you walk into a roomful of people and all activity stops. Heads turn, I trip over men's lower jaws. Said men trip over their own feet around you. I don't have a painting that is kept hidden that was done by some strange French artist in your honor…."

"Ah, yes, I forgot about him. He was fun. He called me the other day. That was a fun couple of weeks in Paris. The stories I could tell you…" Alecta saw the look Hotch was giving her…"that I will wait 'til later to bring to light."

"But my point is, nobody ever painted a portrait of me. And the hell of it was, he painted it of you before he ever actually met you. He had seen you at a town celebration that they were having. He spotted you in the crowd and sketched you picture in his little journal and then went home and created that painting. I still don't know why you don't hang it somewhere."

"Don't be silly. I'm practically homeless. Where am I going to hang a painting? I have no walls."

"Well stop being homeless. Find a man…" seeing the glare that Alecta was shooting at her, "A real man, not Fletcher 2.0." Turning to Hotch, "Thank you for putting one between his eyes, by the way. I would have done that myself. But by the time that I was able to get to her, he had split and I had trouble tracking him down. Besides, I really just wanted to get her the hell away from Los Angeles."

"You're welcome."

"See. What I mean. Hotch is good people. He has a gun, his aim is the shit, and he doesn't hesitate to pull the trigger. And, he's good with kids, too."

Alecta grumbled something as she got down from the countertop finally.

"Look I know it's the Agnes way to be damned near homeless or at least to give off that impression. I know it's for the sake of the job. If you don't have an actual home, then when people come after you they don't know where to hunt you down at…"

"And that was one of my first mistakes with Fletcher. I fell for all his bullshit. I got roped into that….and after we got married there was no place for me to go. I married him. We had a life together, a home. And he was able to track me down no matter where I went. I was better off without him."

"And Yuri? Were you better off without him?"

"It's starting to look that way. I loved him. I loved him and our children; I would have walked to the ends of the earth for them. I had a total break down over what happened to them….and look what it's gotten me." Alecta threw her arms up, shrugging her shoulders. "He's leaving me no matter what I say or do. The only person since Kevin I _ever_ loved and he's…he's leaving me. I ain't got a lot left to loose ya know. I can't take too much more of this." Alecta paused, pulling herself back together.

"Whatever. It doesn't matter anyway. It is what it is. Daddy was right. No decent man is ever gonna _really_ want me. And even if one does, it's not likely to last long. I mean, I had Kevin in my life. I left him. And now, karma; Yuri's leaving me. Well played Karma, well played.

Speaking of Whitney and being the town whore, I think I want to go see her tomorrow. I want to have a little chat. I'm going to try to bury the hatchet one more time.

I'm going to bed. The two of you are free to do as you please."

Alecta made her way out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

"Did a French artist actually paint a portrait of her? Have you seen it?"

"Yes. It's beautiful."

"What do you know about Alecta?"

"The same that you do." Seeing the look Hotch gave her. "What do you want to know?"

"What do you want to tell me?"

"When we were kids I was one of her worst tormentors. At the trial, on her last day of testimony, I stopped her on her way out of the courtroom and begged her to forgive me for all that I had done to her over the years…and she did. And we've been as damned close to being sisters as you can get; I married her half-brother. He was my Fletcher. I know that she would take a bullet for someone she cares about."

Chaz saw a question forming in Hotch's eyes, "What else do you want to know?"

"There was a small little headstone in the cemetery. It didn't have a name or dates on it; all that there was, was a little chubby angel sitting on a rock, with a lamb sitting beside it, and the angel's hand was rubbing the lambs head."

"That is the spot where her first baby was buried."

"She had one before Rachel?"

"Yes. The baby's father was Jake. During the trial, as she sat on the stand, testifying against her father, she was nearly 8 months pregnant. After, everybody thought she was picking up the pieces and trying to move on; she's a great actress. She had us all fooled, even Kevin; she would smile and laugh and tell jokes, like there was nothing bothering her. And then one day she tossed herself down the stairs. Kevin came home from school to find her lying at the bottom of the stair case. He got her to the hospital in record time. Long story short, the baby didn't make it. Lex never did find out whether it was a boy or a girl. She never knew any of the baby's vital statistics like length and weight. She couldn't tell you hair or eye color; mostly it was because she was unconscious the whole time. But even once she came to she didn't care. A nurse asked her about whether she wanted to find out about her baby, and she bitch slapped the poor woman. Nobody ever asked her about the baby again. She never named it. And she was going to leave the body in the morgue and let the city pay to bury the body in an unmarked pauper's grave. Mr. and Mrs. Eason wouldn't let that happen. So they had the baby buried. It still doesn't have a name or any identification.

That's the only time that I have ever known for Lex to be just cruel….not caring a thing for that baby. She never talks about it all. The one time I asked her about it she told me that it had never been a baby, but that it was a disease and now she had cured herself of it, and it was gone and that was that.

If you only knew how much she loves her other children, you would know why this seems so strange. She adores her babies, Oleg the most, since he's the only boy. Rachel will always be her baby, the first, and that's something that nobody will ever take away. But, that Oleg…she absolutely adores that boy. I think she is proudest of him. The pregnancy was so difficult with him, and he was such a good baby…and he's turning out to be a wonderful young man. I think the thing that saddens her most is she missed seeing those three grow up.

Well look, I'm going to make my way to bed myself. Are you going to stay up?"

"I may go as well. What time is it getting to be?"

"It's about 10:30 or pretty close to it."

"Where are the kids?"

"Oh the others have them. It'll be ok. Mrs. 'Ouisa, Mrs. Rachel, Rachel 2.0, the guys...they have it covered. And besides, if I know my daughter very well at all, she won't leave until Ollie has told every story that he can possibly remember….."

"Lex."

"That child is like her through and through."

As Chaz began to make her way to the kitchen door to step into the hallway and up the stairs, Hotch thought of one more question he wanted to ask her.

"Just one minute, please."

"Yes, Agent Hotchner?"

"I never knew she had a brother."

"It's her half-brother. Jake was his father. His mother was some prostitute in the next town….or at least that's what we have always been lead to believe, by Jake of course. For the longest time Lex didn't know about her brother…his name is Jax. The first time that she ever met him in her life was when I brought him to meet her back when we first got engaged.

The part that pissed me off about it all, beyond all the sexual abuse that she suffered because of Jake, was the difference in the way Lex and Jax were raised period.

Jake never kept enough food in the house, Lex was always hungry…Kevin caught her stealing out of our lunch boxes, well his, back in kindergarten….she was practically starving. If it wasn't for Mrs. 'Ouisa, she would probably have worn the same rags through all of school. Her shoes…the soles of them would flap when she walked….when it would rain or snow, her poor little feet and socks staid soak and wet.

Jax on the other hand….his mom had been a hooker, I'm pretty sure of it. And even if she wasn't, she was definitely what someone in your line of work would be called 'high risk'. She still lives in the next town. I've driven past her house thousands of times. Jax always had clean clothes, well fitting. His shoes were always in one piece. He never had to worry about if he was going to have to eat sleep for dinner. His mom kept seeing the men that came in and out her life; but Jake always made sure that that boy was taken care of.

Part of the reason that our marriage broke up was his hatred of his own sister. Jax hated her so bad, all because he felt like their father ignored him and gave Lex all of his attention. And since I'm friends with her, it always ate at me that he hated her so bad. And my defending her would lead to fights.

I don't think he ever understood; Lex would have let Jax have all of Jake's attention if he would have kept his hands off of her. Jake would keep one kid well fed, and well dressed…his son. He had pride in that son. But for Lex, there was never any food in the house, her clothes were rags, and he…he….he raped her more nights than not…from the time she was two."

Hotch saw the young woman start to yawn, covering it with her hand.

"Thanks for telling me all of this. I hope it doesn't get you in trouble with Alecta."

"It shouldn't, besides, I'm not afraid of her." Chaz stated with a grin.

"Why are you helping me?"

"You love her right?" Chaz saw Hotch nod in the affirmative. "Well, good. You better not do her dirty. If you do and I ever find out about it….let's just say, I know where to hide a body. You will never understand just how much shit she has been through in her life. Some of it was my fault, and I will freely admit to what I did wrong. But there's so much that she hasn't even talked about…so much that people like Kevin and I don't even know yet. And there's only so much that one person can take.

Just please, don't hurt her."

"I have no intentions of hurting her. I've done nothing but try to protect her since I met her."

"That's good, then, we're on the same page. Good night Agent Hotchner."

"Aaron. You can call me Aaron."

"Well, then…Goodnight _Aaron_."

**Post AN: Alrighty, I've decided that's the cut-off for chpt. 7; it seemed like a fairly logical place to tie it off. I'd love to hear from more of you, letting me know what you think (any ideas you might want to see in upcoming chapters, etc)….For real, lemme know. And thank you to the few that have let me know their opinions (good or bad, although, so far I have only heard good things). **


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: So here's chapter 8. That is all.**

**All around me are familiar faces  
Worn out places, worn out faces  
Bright and early for their daily races  
Going nowhere, going nowhere  
Their tears are filling up their glasses  
No expression, no expression  
Hide my head I want to drown my sorrow  
No tomorrow, no tomorrow**

**And I find it kinda funny  
I find it kinda sad  
The dreams in which I'm dying  
Are the best I've ever had  
I find it hard to tell you  
I find it hard to take  
When people run in circles  
It's a very, very mad world mad world**

**Children waiting for the day they feel good  
Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday  
And I feel the way that every child should  
Sit and listen, sit and listen  
Went to school and I was very nervous  
No one knew me, no one knew me  
Hello teacher tell me what's my lesson  
Look right through me, look right through me…**

**(**'Mad World' Gary Jules or Tears For Fears, whichever version you like better**)**

She woke up in the middle of another nightmare; not surprising after what she had seen earlier the night before. She stopped just short of screaming as she came awake, but she _was_ in a cold sweat, a profuse cold sweat. It was almost like she had run track for days but instead of being the hot, sporty sort of sweat this was the kind of sweat that froze you to the bones. Shaking, she got up out of bed and walked out of her room by the porch and walked over to where the outer door to Hotch and Rossi's room was. She opened it and went in. Instead of just shaking Hotch to wake him up, she stood there watching him sleep, trying to decide what she should do. After a few moments of indecision, she went with the one choice that she knew she had. She turned and ran. She ran out of the same door she came through, going back into her own room, and then out again and down the stairs, and then out of the house.

Rossi hadn't been sleeping long, when he went to bed he had decided to read for a bit and had just shut out the little lighted sconce by his bed and turned over to get on his way to sleep.

Hearing the floor just outside the room creaking Rossi turned back over, towards the direction of the sound, keeping his eyes closed. He heard someone enter the room and just stop. In the darkness Rossi risked cracking one eye open just a tiny bit. Alecta was standing there with a terrified look on her face, watching Hotch sleep. It looked to Rossi as if she really wanted to wake Aaron up and ask him or tell him something. Rossi could see her thoughts written on her face. _Does she wake him and have the conversation_ or_ does she let him sleep and deal with it alone, as always._ Rossi got his answer when he saw her spin around on her little feet, hair spinning in the air she had turned so quickly…and then she was gone, racing out of the room. Rossi didn't bother to go after her, he figured she would go back to her room; besides, depending on how upset she was, and what it was about, she wouldn't talk to him anyway.

That was until he heard Alecta making her way rapidly down the stairs and the 'front' door opening and closing.

Upon hearing that, Rossi jumped up out of bed and raced downstairs himself. By the time he got to the door and could open it to look out she was making her way to the stables. Opening the door to the coat closet just to his left, Rossi slipped on some shoes that he had placed there when he came back from the party. He began making his way to the stables to see what Alecta was up to.

As Rossi opened the door to the stables he was nearly mowed down by Alecta riding on the back of Bubba. The horse came tearing out of the stables, Alecta not even looking back to see who she almost ran over. Rossi had managed to notice the tears streaming down her face.

_Where the hell is she going at nearly 3 a.m.?_ That was just one of the thoughts racing through David Rossi's head as he quickly as possible made his way back to the house to wake up Kevin and Aaron.

Hotch was the first person that Rossi woke up, next he went to Kevin's door, knocking gently but yet loud enough to rouse the man from his sleep; in the meantime, Mr. Dan'el had been woken up, causing him to come out into the hall to find out what the disturbance was.

"Agent Rossi, what's going on? Why are you waking up the neighborhood?"

"Get dressed and come to the living room. I have something that needs to be dealt with."

Mr. Dan'el, Kevin, and Hotch all got dressed, Rossi as well and they all made their way into the living room as Rossi had requested. Mrs. 'Ouisa, Mrs. King, Rachel, and Penelope came downstairs not far behind them, following them into the living room. Derek came down the stairs only a few short minutes later, probably realizing that Pen was no longer in the bed with him when he moved.

Once they were all gathered, Mr. Dan'el was getting rather irritated at having been awakened just a shade past 3 a.m. And, just where in the hell was Alecta? She was usually in the thick of things.

"What have you drug us all out of bed for at 3 a.m. Agent Rossi?"

"Alecta is gone."

Kevin snapped more fully awake, 'What the hell are you talking about?"

Rossi began to explain what had happened and what exactly he knew. When he was done, Mr. Dan'el got up, going upstairs, and about five minutes later coming down fully dressed, grabbing gun belt with two pistols and full ammo.

"Where are you going?" Mrs. King asked nervously.

"I know where she went. I'm going to go talk to her." Seeing Kevin and Hotch act as though they were about to race up stairs and go get dressed and join him, 'ALONE. Ya'll stay here, we'll be back soon."

After he left Kevin took to pacing. After his dad mentioned that he knew where Alecta had gone, Kevin figured it out, too. He didn't like the fact that Alecta had gone out on her own. Jake was a psycho. His friends are psychos. And now his dad was out there alone tracking her down with only two guns and some ammo to take care of business.

"I don't care for this at all." Kevin stated as he paced back and forth.

"Boy sit down, you're wearing a hole in the floor. Park it now."

Hearing the tone in his mother's voice, Kevin stopped and took a seat in a chair nearby where he had been standing, raking his hands through his hair and down his face.

"Momma, I have to go after them."

"You heard him. Now leave him be. He knows where she is, and you know how close she is to your father. You know how long it took her to come around after everything. Leave them be."

Kevin growled under his breath. "Boy, you heard your mother; now…go back to bed."

"Yes ma'am." Kevin turned and walked away from Mrs. King without grumbling under his breath for once. Anyone could see he still wasn't happy about it at all.

Rossi could see the look on Hotch's face and merely arched an eyebrow at him, at which time Hotch turned back to the stairs, making his way back up them as well and to his room. But before going all the way down the hall to his room, Hotch stopped by Kevin's room and knocked on the door.

Upon Kevin coming to answer the door, 'What did your mom mean by how long it took Alecta to come around to your dad?" Hotch barged right in.

"I'm so glad I didn't have any intentions of going right back to sleep. Do come in." Kevin was scrubbing his face again.

"Look, around the time of the trial…before they sent Lex into the foster care system…she lived with us for a time. Mom and dad took her in; she had nowhere else to go. The Gatlings had died years before; I think we were 10 or 12. The aunts and uncles she might have had, I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy. Several of her uncles are still doing time for stupid shit; one grandfather was a lawyer, and the other one basically owned between 1/4 – 1/2 of this town…but her uncles were always doing something crazy to wind up in trouble with the law. Armed robbery, assault with deadly weapons; you name it, they have likely tried it. And her aunts…I've only met, maybe three of them, out of the whole bunch that's worth a damn. Most of them spent a large part of the 70's and 80's under the influence.

It's no surprise. Lex's grandfathers were no saints. They both beat their wives and children. So the fact that so many of them grew up to have criminal records and/or problems with drugs or alcohol doesn't shock me at all. Factor that in with the fact that 'MawMaw' King shot and killed her husband and then killed herself as a result of years of abuse…and the only thing that is a surprise is that those kids didn't have more issues than they did….

But the point is, even though they were blood related, they weren't safe options. Mom and dad couldn't send her to any of them. If they sent her to live with one of the few uncles she had that were still walking around free it's just as likely one of them would have just raped her again, just like her father.

When she came to live with us…it was pretty bad. At dinner time, you couldn't get her to come downstairs. Momma would leave a plate of food fixed for her wrapped up on the cabinet. Lex would go downstairs late at night, after everyone else was in bed and have her meal. She would sit in the floor in the corner of the kitchen, curled up in front of the cabinet. Since it wasn't her home she didn't want to sit on our furniture, she didn't want to leave a mark on our lives more than she had to. There were a quite a few nights that mom would creep back downstairs later and find her. She would have finished most of her food, except for anything with onions in it; she always has hated onions. After she finished eating she would put her plate back on the cabinet and sack out in the kitchen floor, too tired to move. Mom would get daddy to carry her upstairs and put her to bed.

During waking hours Lex didn't want to be in the same room with daddy, that's why she never ate with us. She didn't want to sit across the table from him; she didn't trust him. Her own father had done so many horrible things to her that she didn't trust mine.

There was one time that he and I were picking out in the yard. She had been hanging out in the kitchen with momma. And I guess she thought dad was hurting me, we were just wrestling around…you know how fathers and sons are….and she came running out of the house at top speed, barreling straight for daddy. She came down into the yard and managed to spear him hard enough that she knocked him off his feet and started kicking him. I had to pull her off, and for such a tiny girl, that was not easy. She was furious and quite powerful due to that anger. I was finally able to get through to her that he and I had only been playing and that I was alright.

She got so embarrassed that she took off running and ran inside and hid for the rest of the day."

"What was the turning point?"

"We had to go to the grocery store. After weeks of working on this with Lex, mom had finally gotten her to the point where she would go with the rest of us. Mom and dad didn't think it was safe to leave her home alone. It was after the actual trial; Jake and the guys were out on bond while they awaited the sentencing phase. Lex had already pulled her stunt of throwing herself down the stairs….mom and dad were worried that if Jake and the others didn't come after her, then she might do something bad to herself again.

I sat in the back seat with her, holding her hand. She was shaking. Lex didn't argue with mom about going with us, she knew mom and dad had been right, so she just came with us. But she was terrified of being in such a small space with daddy. Her hands were cold and clammy, and she shook so badly.

We got to the store, and she stuck by my side nearly the entire time; mom and dad were walking ahead of us. We were on the isle that had the packages of pasta and the sauces, etc. As we made our way down the aisle, Lex stopped in her tracks and wouldn't budge. At first we didn't notice anything; she hadn't spoken a word since we left the house. But, then we noticed that she wasn't beside of me anymore and we turned around. She had stopped because up ahead on the aisle was 'Lucky', one of Jake's friends. As scared of Jake as Lex was, Lucky petrified her. She stood there staring at him, and he was glaring at her.

I'm pretty sure if the three of us hadn't been close by Lucky would have tried something stupid. And Lex was too scared to even move. All she could do was stand there; and even then she just pissed herself…in the middle of the store. Daddy saw how terrified she was, and saw that she had started wetting herself, and he ran up and scooped her up in his arms and carried her out of the store.

Mom and I left the buggy sitting there and followed him out to the car; we could hear Lucky laughing as we went past. Mom slapped him hard enough across the face that it rocked him on his feet, but he never stopped laughing. By the time we got to the car, dad was sitting in the back seat, with Lex on his lap and she was bawling her eyes out into the front of his shirt. Mom and I just got in and drove home.

After that, Lex was different with daddy. She finally started letting him be like a dad to her. He would take her fishing with him, and she wasn't afraid to go with him. Sometimes when he'd go into town she'd ride along. It was sort of neat to see. She went from being so scared of daddy that she wouldn't even be in the same room, to becoming completely inseparable from him. Daddy adores her and she worships the ground he walks on.

Momma and daddy always wanted to have a little girl after they had me…just to have one of each, ya know. And momma did get pregnant after me, I think when I was like five, but she lost the baby; and the doctor told her that she wouldn't be able to have anymore, it was physically impossible. So, Lex was the closest thing they had to their own daughter."

Kevin and Hotch spent the better part of another hour or so just talking more about Alecta and her relationship with Kevin's parents. Meanwhile, Mr. Dan'el had tracked down where Alecta took off to. It was a small brick church, it was quite old; the original parts of it were from the late 1700-early 1800's. You could see the age of the brick, it was worn and weathered. And the building was small, it probably wouldn't have held more than 100 people; compared with today's larger church buildings, that was tiny. It was in a state of near ruins, weeds and trees had grown up around it over the centuries and practically covered the dirt path that lead to the building; only someone who knew it was there would ever be able to find it. Most of the roof was ragged; it was a slate tile roof, and some of the tiles were missing in large patches. There were lovely stained glassed windows on the church, some of them had been broken out; whether it was from the elements or from people, it would be hard to tell. But the missing windows made you appreciate the windows that were still intact.

Mr. Dan'el made his way inside the building; the creeky old wooden door was already slightly ajar and he just side stepped his way in, so he wouldn't have to move it. Luckily he had brought an old lantern with him that was lit up so he had at least some dim light to see by; he noticed Alecta laying down on one of the pews, curled up asleep. She was lying on her left side, facing outward from the pew, her knees were pulled to her chest and her arms were wrapped around her legs. Part of her long hair tumbled over the side of the pew; the rest of it was resting spread out over her shoulder and down her side. She was shivering from being cold. Mr. Dan'el took off his jacket and put it over her; she didn't even open her eyes. She kept right on sleeping. He swept the strands of hair out of her face. She still looked like that little girl that he and 'Ouisa had known all those years ago.

When they found out that they wouldn't be able to have more of their own children, it was hard on them at first. But then they thought about Lex. Her mother had been killed, so they thought, and she had nobody to care for her at all. Kevin and Lex were in kindergarten when he and 'Ouisa found out about their inability to have any other children. That was also the time frame when Kevin came home talking about the 'smelly girl' in his class that had holes in her clothes and didn't talk. And then there was the day that 'Ouisa had gone to pick Kevin up from school and he pointed Lex out to her. Lex was sitting there on the steps of the school crying her eyes out because she had to go back home. Kevin had asked 'Ouisa if they could keep her, like she was some sort of pet.

'Ouisa had made up her mind then and there that she was going to do everything in her power to help this girl, and she came home telling Dan'el that he was going to help her _**or else**_. She didn't have to twist his arm. He had been there as the town sheriff the day they got the call for her mother's attack, the one that left everyone thinking that she was dead. He had carried her out of the house, she was covered in her mother's blood, crying and screaming. He would have been on board to help the child regardless of what 'Ouisa had said.

And now, over 30 years later, here she was. That same little girl, that's what she would always be to him; that crying little toddler girl, no older than Sofie and Emma. And he could remember the first time she asked to ride along with him when he went into town; it was after the fiasco at the grocery store. You could have knocked him over with a feather. Up to that point Lex had never wanted to be anywhere near him; she wouldn't even be in the same room as him while, even if other people were in the same room. And then she wanted to ride with him into town. And he couldn't have denied her if he tried. From then on out, they were pretty much inseparable; that is until that damned judge sent her into foster care. Dan'el could have strangled the man with his own bare hands.

Now was not the time for him to get steamed about that. He didn't have time to hunt down all of her foster fathers; and he was sure taking out a judge would get him life. That damned case…._Must calm down, she doesn't want to see me angry, it'll scare her._

Meanwhile Kevin and Hotch had been talking back at the house and the two of them decided, damned the difference, they were following the old man. So, that's just what they did. Heading in the direction that Kevin knew Dan'el had gone, they arrived at the old church.

When they had gotten pretty close to the church Kevin had decided that they should park a few yards away so his dad wouldn't hear the engine of the car; not to mention the fact that Kevin wasn't sure of what the terrain might be like closer to the church, he didn't want to risk blowing a tire or wrecking something under the car in the meantime.

"Are you serious?"

"Agent Hotchner, I haven't been to this church in 25 years, since she left. We used to come here all the time. We played here. Most of the older generations in this town were married here. They stopped using it in the…1920's I think. Lex could tell you what Sunday was the last service that was held here. She would know nearly every brick in this town on a first name basis. We started playing here when we were about 7 or 8. Daphne brought us here. It's the last place she really has that she can go and feel any sense of safety. I think she's crazy going anywhere around here alone, knowing her daddy is on the loose. But her argument is that not even her daddy is stupid enough to do something evil in a house of God, even if it's an abandoned house of God. And if he was to try, well you've met her back up.

That Native American fellow that you met in the woods that day coming back from Dead Water Marsh, he's the one you really have to watch out for. His name is Raging Creek; we have always just called him Creek. He's the one that made the trees fall across the path of Jake and his friends that day.

Revolutionary Daniel and Dorian are good as afar as sensing when some form of danger is close by, as is Daphne. But Creek is the one that can really cause the most havoc."

Creeping up closer to the church itself, Kevin began to speak in a quieter tone, 'Follow me, we can take positions over here. We'll be able to look in through this window."

Hotch followed Kevin where he was told to go. They were standing on either side of the window that Kevin had directed that they go to. Once they were able to find out if there was any noise coming from inside the church, they moved around to where they could actually see through the window.

That was when they saw Mr. Dan'el sitting on a pew with Alecta laying under his jacket asleep. When she went to turn over to face the back of the pew she finally realized that someone was there with her.

Sitting up she rubbed her eyes, 'Pops?"

"You've scared the shit out of everybody taking off like that."

"I'm sorry. I just…I had to think a bit."

"You don't say. What could you possibly have to think about that you couldn't have done it at the house?"

"There are just so many people there. And it's so close to the old place. And…."

"Is this about Agent Hotchner telling you he was in love with you?"

"N-n-no. W-w-why would y-y-you think that?"

"Well for one, you stutter really badly when you get upset."

"It doesn't have anything to do with that."

"Lex…." He was using that tone of voice that said he knew she was lying and he wasn't going to let it drop. It was a gentle tone, but he seemed to draw her name out longer than necessary.

Alecta got up and began pacing, she walked over to the window that Kevin and Hotch were standing outside of, causing them to spring to either side of the window and hunker down low to the ground to not be caught.

"Pops, he doesn't really want me. He only thinks he does because, well we work together. We've been around each other almost non-stop since I first joined the unit. That's all it is. I've seen a picture of his first wife. She was so pretty, tall and blonde; slim and trim. I know they split up over his commitment to the job. But still he loved her in spite of everything.

Who am I? Nobody. Ask anyone in this town and they can tell you. Ask people in the greater Los Angeles area….Vegas….they will all tell you the same thing. I'm nobody."

"How can you say that?"

"Did you miss the 80's and early 90's? I was able to go to school every day here covered in bruises and smelling to high hell. In Las Vegas I was able to sleep on a train station bench for 3 days before there was even one person to ask me if I was ok. And in Los Angeles…I lost everything I had protecting and serving others… I was banned from Women's shelters and had nowhere to go. Do you know how hard I had to fight to get a restraining order against Fletcher?"

Sniffling harder and with her voice choked with even more tears, 'Nobody knows the pain I have seen."

"Tell them then."

"Are you crazy? I don't even want to have these memories playing on loop in my head. Do you really think I want to unload all of this on someone else? I wouldn't do that to my worst enemy's dog.

It's just…I've never had much of anything that was worth a shit. And I'm losing everything and everybody that ever mattered to me. It's all going downhill so damned fast. The latest thing is this mess with Yuri.

The nightmares are even worse now."

"Are they the same ones as before?"

"Trying to reach someone or something that I've been looking for and the drowning feeling?" Seeing him nod, 'Yeah. That's part of it."

"What's the rest of it."

"No, ya don't old man." Outside, as soon as Kevin heard Alecta say this, he knew the conversation was coming to a close, and got Hotch's attention and lead him back to the car, to be back on their way.

"What? I want to know what's going on in that head of yours."

"I….can we go home now?"

Sensing that he wouldn't get any closer to the truth, Dan'el ran his hands through his graying blonde hair, nodding that he would help her get home. As they headed outside, Dan'el walked over to Bubba and told the horse he needed to head home on his own. The horse seemed to understand because he turned in the direction of the house and started trotting along.

Alecta got in the passenger side of Dan'el's old faded blue and white pick-up truck; it was a late 70's model, only had room for two people in the cab. She had always loved this old raggedy truck.

Alecta and Dan'el rode back to the house in peace and quiet. Alecta was trying to get things straight in her head. Dan'el was trying to figure out a way to get her to talk. She was a hard headed woman.

Kevin and Hotch had made it back to the house just in the nick of time. They went in through the back door, quietly, and then up the back stairs. They had decided in the car, on the way back to the house, that they would go on to their own separate rooms so as not to arouse suspicion about their activities.

This was just fine by Hotch, he had a lot of thinking to do anyway. And Kevin didn't really want to hear the third degree from his mother about being too damned nosy for his own good.

Alecta came into the house, followed closely by Dan'el and went on up to her room to go back to bed. Upon seeing 'Ouisa's face, her eyes asking him the questions, Dan'el shook his head negatively.

"I didn't get much of anything useful out of her. She won't talk about it. I'm going back to bed. We have the early shift at the dinner tomorrow, remember."

"Yeah, I'm coming."

Mrs. 'Ouisa made her way over to the main stair case and waited for everyone else to make their ways up before cutting the lights out and heading up herself.

The next morning, around 9a.m., Alecta got up and got a shower and got dressed. She had every intention of going to the jail to see Whitney as she had planned. All she had to do was stop by Chaz's desk at the police station and pick the file that would be waiting on her when she got there.

Alecta arrived at the police station around 10a.m. She swept past Chaz's desk, chatting with her momentarily and listening her tell her for the hundredth time about how she thought it was all a bad idea; grabbing the file she needed, she made her way to one of the interview rooms that Chaz had requisitioned for her. She sat there and waited for five minutes, and then the door was opened by one of the guards, and Whitney walked in.

"What could you possibly have to say to me, whore?"

"Please. Have a seat and make yourself comfortable."

Alecta waited for Whitney to seat herself and watched the uncomfortable look pass her face.

"I only came to bring you something. You see, for eons you have been hell bent on persecuting me as a whore, and yet you have never really had all of your facts straight."

"And what makes you think I would believe a word out of your mouth over the word of my own father?"

"Oh no love, you don't have to believe me. No, I would never dream of trying to brainwash you like I have all the rest of the nice 'normal' people. No, no, no. I brought the case file on my life with me. I'm going to let the doctors and the detectives do the talking for me. Surely, you'll believe a doctor or a cop over me."

First, Alecta grabbed the file that contained the information and the photos about what happened the night that she thought her mother was murdered. She showed Whitney the photos that 'Ouisa had taking as the attending pediatric nurse in the emergency room that night; Alecta, covered in her mother's blood. Her own lip split from a punch thrown on a different day. Her hair matted with the blood. Bruises everywhere. Her little clothes all dirty and tattered.

At first Whitney seemed unaffected, even shrugging her shoulders. Then, Alecta whipped out all the arbitrary medical photos and notes about all the other trips to the hospital or the doctor's.

She could see that it was starting to work on Whitney, her eyes were changing, her posture changed a bit as well.

What Alecta could not have known was that Chaz had called Aaron and told him that if he wanted to get near any of the truth, that he better find a way to get his ass down to the station. And he did just that. Kevin drove, knowing a back way, he made it there in roughly 10 minutes instead of the regular 20.

Hotch was on the other side of the two-way glass that was part of the décor of the interview room. He watched as Alecta cooly propped her feet up on the table, leaned back in a chair and filed her nails while this woman read about the darkest hours of her life.

Alecta knew when she struck a nerve. Whitney looked at her with tears in her eyes. She had gotten to the bit about what had happened around the time that Alecta had…cured herself of Jake's baby.

Leaning forward, 'So you see, darlin', I never really stood a chance. Not against my daddy, and not against yours."

"Why are you showing me this?"

"Well it's simple really. I don't mind you calling me the town whore. I was bought and sold more times than a used car. It is what it is. But if you're going to continue to call me the town whore, I wanted you to have the benefit of having all of the facts presented to you…not just your father's biased opinion of me.

But, like with Chaz…I hope that we can put all of this silly non-sense away and be friends from here on out. I don't intend to actually press assault charges. I will have them dropped, and you will be released. I never had any intentions of pressing charges. I merely wanted to give you time to cool off, and to think of exactly what I wanted to say to you as well as prepare myself for anything you might say in retaliation.

I know most of the reason that you were always so shitty to me was because you were a scared kid who was so willing to believe what her parents told her. I was that way once, too. Daddy told me that momma was dead. I have believed him all of my life. And just recently I have learned the truth. She was locked away somewhere, being kept from me, and like-wise, because she tried to take me away from him.

Now, we can either bury the hatchet and move forward as friends from here on out, or you can still resent me as the town whore. It's your choice. And I will continue to move on with my life either way, with or without you.

When you make your choice you can call me at this number."

Alecta pushed business card with her cell number on it toward Whitney, and got up to leave.

"Wait. I don't need your number. I already know what I'm going to be choosing."

**Post AN: So that was Chapter 8, per the usual, let me know what you think. Chapter 9 I hope to be moving into what might happen if Jake and his friends get their hands on Alecta and Pen; but we will see how that rolls out.**


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: So on with chpt 9. Last chapter we saw Alecta burying the hatchet with an old nemesis. How will that benefit her from here on out? **

_**Quote**_**: As a historian, I have learned that, in fact, not everyone who reaches back into history can survive it. And it is not only reaching back that endangers us; sometimes history itself reaches inexorably forward for us with its shadowy claw. (The Historian, Elizabeth Kostova)**

**I'm standin' on the bridge  
I'm waitin' in the dark  
I thought that you'd be here by now  
There's nothing but the rain  
No footsteps on the ground  
I'm listening but there's no sound**

**Isn't anyone tryin' to find me?  
Won't somebody come take me home?  
It's a damn cold night  
I'm tryin' to figure out this life  
Won't you take me by the hand?  
Take me somewhere new  
I don't know who you are  
But I'm, I'm with you  
I'm with you  
Hmm hmm hmm**

**I'm looking for a place  
I'm searching for a face  
Is anybody here I know?  
'Cause nothing's going right  
And everything's a mess  
And no one likes to be alone**

**Isn't anyone tryin' to find me?  
Won't somebody come take me home?**

**(I'm With You-Avril Lavigne) **

Alecta sat at Chaz's desk and chatted with her a bit while she waited for Whitney to be released and get her clothes changed. Chaz was surprised that Alecta had been able to change Whitney; Whitney had been such a staunch opponent for years, but perhaps there was some hope after all.

Twenty-five minutes later, after going through the procedures to be released and getting a fresh change of clothes, Whitney emerged from the rear of the policed station, walking over to the two women.

Looking up at her newest 'sister', 'Come on over to the house with me and have some lunch."

"I don't know if I should. Would I be welcomed?"

"Yes, of course you will. Kevin may give you hell for a minute. But, if he keeps up with it, I'll just chain him up out back and let him run to the end of his leash and bark. It'll be fine."

Whitney giggled, and the two women walked out of the station arm and arm as if the rift between them never happened. Chaz smiled, shook her head, and dove back into her paper work. She figured she might stop by the house later and see how everyone was getting along.

Alecta still hadn't found out that Hotch had been there, listening from the other side of the glass. He waited until after he was sure Alecta was gone before he came back out to Chaz's desk.

"That was wholly pointless." He dropped into the chair in exasperation. "I didn't find out more than I already knew to begin with."

"Patience, my good man, patience. Rome wasn't built in a day. And if you're patient, the pay-off is bigger and longer lasting."

"I'm not a very patient man."

"Then ya'll are meant for each other."

"Wait. What did she mean by being bought and sold more than a used car?" It seemed as though Hotch's brain was just now catching up to bits of the conversation. Chaz merely cocked an eyebrow at him as she looked up from her paper work.

Hotch gave it another 15 minutes before he headed back towards the Eason's house. By the time he got there, Whitney was sitting at the kitchen table with Alecta, drinking tea and eating some fried green tomatoes as well as some cucumbers that had been cut up in some vinegar and salt. They were talking and joking like they had been friends all their lives. Things like this never ceased to amaze Hotch. This woman had been cruel to Alecta her whole life, and yet, she had adopted her as a sister in a matter of moments.

Coming around the corner of the doorway leading into the kitchen, 'And you have problems understanding why I told you I love you?"

Alecta jumped, Whitney turned, seeing who it was and smiled. "Lex, I'd take him up on it."

Alecta grumbled something under her breath and got up to get some more tea to drink.

"Can we start over? I'm Whitney. I'm sorry I was so bitchy to Alecta the other day. And who are you?"

"I'm Aaron Hotchner. She and I work together in the FBI's profiler unit."

"Alecta, you're leaving him twisting in the wind?"

"No. Well, not intentionally." Looking at Hotch just for a brief second before turning back to her task of pouring more drink, 'I'm just not ready to…say it….back. That's all."

Hearing Whitney's heavy sigh, "Look, one husband just left me. One tried, yet again, to kill me. Luckily he wasn't successful, but as you can see I haven't got the best track record in the world. Forgive me if I felt like I might need some time to get my shit together and think over some things."

Whitney looked over at Hotch; if she wasn't mistaken, she thought she could see a glimmer of hope in his eye that this wasn't a lost cause after all.

"I'm sorry if you feel like I've been pushing you or anything."

"Oh good grief! Don't apologize. Do you know how long it's been since I thought anybody was actually excited to have me around?" _She really has no idea,_ Hotch thought to himself. But he didn't need to be on this train of thought right now; not at all or Whitney would get to know him _a lot_ better. Alecta shrugged her shoulders, coming back to the table with her refilled drink glass, and bringing one for Hotch as well. To anyone who grew up in the south, being given a glass of tea without having to ask for it first is as good as a peace offering as you could ever get; the only thing that might…_Might_…trump that is a huge bowl of potato salad for no reason. Alecta had made the tea yesterday afternoon, before the party. And Hotch was of the firm belief that this was the best sweet tea he had ever had.

Changing the subject, Alecta had asked where Garcia and the girls-meaning JJ and Emily-were at.

"They went with your mother and Mrs. 'Ouisa into town to do a bit of shopping. Since the Eason's had such an early morning at the diner, 'Ouisa was able to cut out early."

"Poor Garcia. Downtown isn't that big. It doesn't have the designer places she likes so much."

"Trust me. If it has an open sign on it, Garcia will shop there…she'll at least try it once."

Alecta shook her head laughing a little bit. Hotch spoke the truth. Garcia loved her shopping.

"The kids?"

"Kevin and Mr. Dan'el and the guys were taking them by the pond for a bit of fishing, getting them out in the open a little bit."

"Cool."

The three of them sat there for a little while longer, talking and enjoying the peace and quiet of the house before the inevitable return to insanity once the kids returned; with no fewer than six small children running around at any one time, it had been a mad house around there the past few days.

"Lex, it's very nearly 3p.m. I need to be getting home. I will have to stop by the grocery store on the way and pick up a little something for dinner, so I want to get started before too late."

"Ok. That's cool. Come by tomorrow. We can do some swimming or something."

"You betcha."

Meanwhile 'Ouisa, Mrs. King, and the girls had been enjoying a nice slow paced day of running around shopping. JJ and Emily had absolutely loved the little corner drug store that still had its own teeny tiny lunch counter. The area for the lunch counter was barely big enough, but somehow they had managed to fit five booths in there; and it came complete with soda fountain. To see the look on everybody's faces when they recognized Mrs. King after all these years had been something. There were a lot of questions from the ladies in the shop, just like there had been a ton of questions from the men over at the diner. They got to meet one little old lady that had to be at least as old as Ollie. Her name was Miss Carry; and she made it a point to inform the three BAU girls that it was pronounced C-A-R—EE, not Cary or Carrie. Miss Carry had been an old school teacher. She had taught Kevin and Alecta as well as all of their parents, and even their grandparents.

"Oh, yeah, I taught school forever. I started when I was only about 18 or 19. In those days you didn't have to have much in the way of a college degree. The school lessons were pretty simple. You just had to have high marks in your classes, and have a few college courses…but only if you wanted to make your application look better, it wasn't so much of a requirement as it is these days."

Carry had gotten side tracked sitting in a booth near them, talking her head off about some of the stories that she could remember about some of the kids growing up.

"I didn't retire until I was into my seventies. I really did love the kids you see. I got to watch them all grow up, got to watch their kids grow up. I was never married, and had no children of my own, so this was as close as I was ever going to get."

"Why wouldn't you have had your own husband and children?" Garcia wondered aloud.

"In the early days, the female school marms weren't allowed to marry. In those days, you didn't advertise being pregnant like so many of you youngsters do now. You definitely didn't talk about it in mixed company of men and women. It was kind of like the whole hang up the church has with Catholic priests being married. They wanted the marms to set a shining example for the young ladies. And the idea that a marm would be teaching while pregnant….wasn't going to happen. That would have lead the children to asking about pregnancy, how it happened, where did babies come from…that sort of thing. And the prevailing custom was that young people under a certain age didn't need to hear those sorts of discussions.

And if I had ever gotten married, especially in the early days of my career, I would have had to quit being a teacher. And I couldn't do that, I loved it too much. And years later, when it would have been more acceptable for me to do so, it was too late for it to do me much good. But that's ok. I've had a few gentleman friends."

Mrs. 'Ouisa grinned knowingly, 'So when's your next date with Ollie, by the way?"

"We're s'posed to go out to the movies tomorrow night. I don't know what he wants to see. I haven't cared a thing for the films the last few years; they're all violence and a bunch of naked people. No decent stories anymore. But he said there is a good one that he thinks I may actually like. We'll see."

"Miss Carry, you didn't ask me about how I can be alive right now."

"Jake's at the bottom of it right?"

"Well yes…."

"Enough said. That boy has been nothing but evil since the day he was born, God rest his poor mama's soul. That woman tried. But with a husband like that, what do you expect. At least your daddy came around in the end. He felt some remorse for the things he'd done to your momma and you kids. I don't excuse him for the years before that when he beat ya'll with if you got in arms reach of him…but at least he made his peace with it all. That Mr. King, Jake's daddy was clearly one of the Devil's own children. And it sounds like Jake got all of his 'finest' qualities. Those King boys were the only ones that ever gave me so much trouble. But I was only ever scared of Jake. The year I had him as a student, I passed him to the next grade just so I could get rid of him. I could scarcely believe that Alecta was his daughter; she was such a good little girl. She never caused any trouble. She always wanted to stay after school and help me get the classroom in order; of course she'd only stay if Kevin stayed. She would never have thought of it by herself. I can remember the first day he came to me and asked me for her if it was ok if she stayed and helped. I don't think I had ever heard her speak to be honest with you."

"What do you mean?" Mrs. King was genuinely interested to know.

"Oh, you didn't know. After….after what happened…when she thought you had died…the poor thing went almost completely mute for a long time. The only person I ever knew of her to speak to at all was Kevin, and even that was pretty rare. Once she got a bit older she began to speak more and more, but it was still so seldom."

This bit of news seemed to trouble Mrs. King a bit, but she didn't dwell on it for the moment. She could come to terms with it in her own time, later.

"Oh, PG…' Emily interrupted, 'Excuse me Miss Carry…Morgan just texted me; he says '_Pick up ur phone'_."

Garcia gave a frown as she rifled through her purse looking for the elusive item. "Ladies, I will be back in a second. It seems as though somebody may have left her phone in the car. It shouldn't take me more than a minute."

"Yeah, yeah. Call your man before he comes tearing through town looking for you." Emily chided; JJ softly giggled…mostly because she knew how true the statement to be.

Garcia went racing out there; thankfully she had thought to wear flats that day and didn't have to totter around on her usual choice of four inch heels. Getting out to the car she got out Mrs. 'Ouisa's key to unlock it, but realized that Mrs. 'Ouisa must've forgotten to lock the doors. Out here in 'Mayberry' it was easy to forget. You would never do that around Quantico.

Rifling through the back seat where she had been sitting, Garcia couldn't find her phone.

Stooping down to reach under the seat a little in case it fell on the floor of the car she muttered, 'I know it's here somewhere…"

"Looking for somethin' darlin'?" An eerily familiar voice came from behind her, freezing her blood in her veins.

Slowly, Garcia stood up and turned around. This man was like a bear; you don't want to startle him with sudden movements.

As she turned around slowly, inch by inch, 'Who's _Hot Stuff_? Is he your little boyfriend?" The man watched the look on her face change, watched the color drain from it. "It don't matter to me none. He's never gonna see _you_ again. That much of I'm sure of."

The man made a lunge for Garcia, grabbing her. She screamed and tried to fight her way free. It wasn't working. Along with having the personality of a bear, it seemed as though this man had the strength of one as well. _Alecta!_ That was the last thought that Garcia actually had as the rag with chloroform covered her mouth and nose.

Inside at the lunch counter, JJ and Emily had gotten so wrapped up in Miss Carry's story telling that more than five minutes had passed before JJ sat up and asked everyone why Garcia wasn't back yet. As soon as she finished her question, Emily jumped up and ran out to the car to check on Garcia. When she got out there she saw the car door slightly ajar and Pen's phone on the ground, ringing. It was Morgan; he was _still_ trying to get in touch with Garcia. Then Garcia's phone stopped ringing, and Emily's started going off. What was she going to do? If she hit 'ignore' so she could call JJ he was going to know something was going on. Emily raced back inside to tell JJ in person what she had found.

"Well you better call the man back. If he's anything like Kevin or his daddy is about his woman he will be here in a matter of minutes if you don't….and even faster if you do."

"Oh my God. This is gonna blow." Emily picked up her phone to dial Derek's number and let him know what was going on. Waiting for him to pick up, 'Now he'll never let her go anywhere without him again."

JJ rolled her eyes as she called Hotch to let him know what happened and get the remainder of the team together.

"What's going on?" Miss Carry began asking, worried about the bubbly young lady that had just been giggling a few moments ago at something she, Miss Carry, herself had been saying.

"Jake." Was all Mrs. 'Ouisa had to say.

"That…." Miss Carry didn't have the words. Nobody had ever heard her say any really foul words, but she came close. "I better get over to Ollie's. If I stay here, I'm liable to say something ugly that I can't take back."

Back at the Eason's house, Alecta had begun to make her way out toward the stables, which were about 200 yards from the house, to check on the horses. She thought she'd heard a disturbance out there, and she needed to go check it out. After doing her cursory check of the horses, she found nothing wrong. She'd mention it to Mr. Dan'el, he'd have his regular stable hands check things out more closely in the morning. As she was leaving the stables, a man came from behind the stable doors and dropped a bag down over her head. It was a large enough bag that it came down to her elbows as the assailant wrapped his arms around her. She started screaming and kicking. She could hear the man that had grabbed her initially telling someone to get her feet. _Wait, that voice sounds familiar._ She knew the voice that came from behind her. It was her father, Jake.

"Tie her feet, tie them tight. She's a kicker."

Not even saying a word, Alecta tried struggling harder against the men. Knowing her father had her by her arms, his lackey Rusty was probably the one that was tying her feet up.

"Daddy's home. But then you already knew that didn't you? In my defense, I didn't come near your precious babies again. Get her in the truck."

_Garcia!_ Alecta thought quickly. They had likely gone after her too.

In the house, Hotch had been meandering through the kitchen and living room, making his way to the stairs. He was going to go grab the book he'd been reading on for days. But he heard a noise from outside. He went running into Mr. Dan'el's study, the direction that the noise had come from. Looking out the window, from a distance, he could just barely make out the source of the noise. He saw Alecta struggling against two men. _It was her scream he had heard._ He whipped out his cell phone and called Rossi. He needed Rossi to tell Morgan and Kevin what was going on. As he waited for Rossi to pick up, Hotch ran out the door, running as fast as he could to keep up with what was going on. He saw the men packing Alecta into an SUV of their own.

"Rossi."

"Dave." Hotch was out of breath, he'd run nearly ¾ of the distance and was beginning to panic slightly.

"Aaron? What's going on?"

"She….she went outside to check on the horses…." Still trying to catch his breath, 'They got her. Where's Morgan?"

"He's trying to get ahold of Garcia on her phone and having no luck with it. We're coming back to the house. Kevin and Dan'el are getting the kids packed up and ready to come back. We'll be there in couple of minutes."

The men arrived with the kids around the same time as Mrs. 'Ouisa and the women arrived back at the house. JJ hadn't been able to get Hotch on the phone and had been worried. Emily had been talking to Morgan on the phone at the same time as JJ called Hotch and had only been able to tell Morgan what she knew had happened. Morgan to say the least was _NOT_ happy about the turn of events and only got angrier when Rossi got off the phone with Hotch.

Once everyone had made it back to the house, the team had from force of habit started to piece together the 'case' just as they would have if they were actually working.

"Wait."

"Wait for what Hotch." Morgan was getting a little worked up. "They have the girls."

"Kevin we didn't think about jurisdiction and things like that."

"You get started doing that thing ya'll do. I'm calling the sheriff now. He's a friend. He'll welcome the help. We'll have anything the town can spare at our disposal." Kevin walked out of the room to make his phone call.

"Someone may want to check on Chaz and 2. If Jake is starting shit…like father like son." Mrs. 'Ouisa thought out loud. At that Mr. Dan'el turned to go out the door to do so, balancing on his cane as he grabbed his cell to call Victor to tell him to keep an eye on Chaz. Dan'el himself was going to grab 2 from her sitter's house.

Looking around, Derek saw that things were starting to take shape quickly; he wanted to run and find Garcia _NOW._ He didn't want to sit and form a plan. He had one. It was to go and beat the shit out of somebody and get his Baby Girl back. As he scanned the room he could see that he wasn't the only one with these thoughts. _Good luck Dave_ was all that Derek could think as he tried to calm himself down a little bit. He knew that Rossi was going to have his work cut out for him having to wrangle both Morgan and Hotch. Morgan had only ever seen Hotch this bent out of shape one other time, when he beat George Foyet to death.

Morgan sat down around the kitchen table with the others to talk over what was going to happen. Kevin came back into the room about the same time and took a seat.

"The sheriff has said that he will help us anyway he can. Now, we will have some _unconventional_ help in trying to find them. I can tell you this already. I can promise you that 'Raging Creek' is already putting his tracking skills and lingering curiosity over the 'white man' to good use. Don't be surprised if he pops up from time to time. And you can bet that when the time comes he and the 'boys' will interfere as much as possible to sideline whatever Jake and the others have planned. They're good at jamming weapons and tripping people, etc. It's not much, but it can buy you a few seconds."

"I want to go through the old house…."

"Agent Hotchner, I doubt they'd be stupid enough to take them there. I mean they were smart enough to have two separate attacks simultaneously, surely they wouldn't follow that up with such a grand failure as that."

"This may be true, but there may be clues as to what their next move is or where they are holding Garcia and Alecta. And not only that, but during the party, after Alecta's performance, she went on a walk. I followed her, I have become like you, I knew it wasn't safe to let her walk around by herself with him being this close. She saw lights on over at the old house. And she went over there….I followed her of course, I couldn't stop her from going…..we were sitting on the porch hiding under the window, and she looked in and saw something. I don't know what it was, she didn't let me take a look, and she never explained it to me. But her mood changed completely after that. She raced back to the house like the devil was on her back and didn't stop running until she got upstairs. She was shaking. For all the crying she was doing she couldn't tell me what she saw. We need to get into that house and see what we find."

Kevin only nodded. He hadn't been back in that house in a long time…he had gotten some odds and ends of things that belonged to Alecta out and brought them home with him, to keep at his parents place in case she ever wanted them again, so she wouldn't have to go over there. But beyond that, Kevin avoided that place. He hated it. That was the house where all those bad things had happened to her. That was where she saw what happened to her mother. Those other poor women…..so much evil in one house. Just being there made him angry, thinking of all the years she was stuck in that prison alone. And now the agents wanted to go through that house. It was almost more than Kevin could bear. He knew what needed to be done. He began to wonder if this is how Alecta felt all the time over the prospect of people finding out about her story. His stomach hurt so badly.

"Excuse me, I'll be right back." Kevin jumped up racing from the table into the downstairs bathroom that was in the hall way. He just barely made it in time. Luckily since Kevin was tall he was able to lean in and grab the lid to the toilet flipping it up just in the nick of time. He began vomiting hard. 'Ouisa jumped up and ran down the hall after him. She had to see to her boy. He was hunched over the commode losing everything he'd ever eaten. Looking at him, she turned carefully and made her way back down the hall towards the kitchen.

As she came past the living room, "Ouisa?"

"Oh, Rossi, he'll be fine. It's just…he's kept her secrets for her all their lives. When she wouldn't or couldn't talk to anyone else, she came to him. Alecta's so private about her story. Just give him a couple of minutes."

Five minutes later, a paler, shaken Kevin comes walking back down the hall.

"If ya'll want to go ahead and check out the house, we need to go on over there and get this over with."

With that Kevin walked into Dan'el's study and walked over to the gun safe, taking out his favorite rifle and a box of ammunition that he started to pack up. Hotch and crew began getting their firearms straight. Morgan tucked one of his side arms in the back of the waist band on his jeans; as he did so he thought about whatever clever, naughty little thing Garcia would say about his ass in those jeans and chuckled for just a second.

As Reid got himself together he thought about the discussion that he had with Alecta weeks ago over the various psychological meanings some of the Shakespeare plays. It was an off-shoot of the discussion they had about Shakespeare and Marlowe. Reid grinned and kept getting his things together.

Rossi ran his hand over the book that he had given Alecta. She had put in Dan'el's study, on his desk, for him to read while they were here. The cover was worn, looked like the spine was going to fall off of it if the wind blew just right. Most of the pages were dog eared; she must have read that book 1,000 times. As he flipped through the pages a wrinkled photo fell out. Picking it up he saw that it was the last photo that had been taken of Alecta and Yuri with their children, just before the car blew up, making her think they were all dead. She had put it in her favorite book, and taken them both everywhere with her. He looked out the window in the direction of the stables that had been what drew her into the line of danger. He shook his head. He worried about Alecta; would she make it through this in one piece, and if so what would she be like when this was over.

JJ and Prentiss were thinking back to the day that they had gone shopping with Alecta and Garcia for that ball gowns that were needed when they were trying to track down the Russians. Garcia was always such fun on any shopping trip. The jokes she told, the dish on Morgan…it was great to see her face light up just at the mere mention of his name. And Alecta? Both women knew what everybody else knew. She was to die for. She was so little and just so damned cute. Men would trip over their feet every step of the way to follow her down the street. And she had no clue. She had jumped, with both feet, on to Hotch's radar, even if it was by accident. She was the first woman that had caught his attention since Beth left him. After that he had become more focused on Jack and work; he never seemed to notice the women that watched him at the bar when they got together for drinks after work. Alecta never seemed to take notice of the men that watched her; sure on odd occasions she danced with them, quite well judging by how closely Hotch watched her. JJ and Emily looked at each other when they both chuckled on the same thought. It was the time that Hotch realized he was busted. They had never seen him blush before, let alone so deeply red.

Hotch was pacing by the door, his weapons were ready; he'd checked them twice already. _Why were the others taking so long?_

"Agent Hotchner, these floors are original to the house. If you keep pacing like this you're going wear a hole right in the foyer. Settle down, they're coming."

Hotch had spun around hearing Mrs. 'Ouisa's voice coming around the corner. Hotch just shook his head as he came to a stop.

"Are you really any good with that thing?" Mrs. 'Ouisa asked Hotch one more time about his marksman ship.

Taking out his cell phone, Hotch showed Mrs. 'Ouisa the pictures of Fletcher and of Rasputin; both with fatal wounds that were inflicted by Hotch.

"Is this good enough?"

"It'll do."

With that said the rest of the team came into the foyer. Mr. Dan'el, 'Ouisa, the two Rachels, Sasha, Eva, and Oleg would be watching the other kids. And since they were all handy with weapons there was no safer place for them.

The team jumped into two SUVs. Hotch and Kevin were in one, Kevin driving; Morgan and Rossi with Reid and the girls followed in the other. They drove over to Alecta's old house, it only took about eight minutes; Kevin was looking rougher than he did before they left. This must be weighing on him. It was a huge secret to keep for somebody for so long. And to have been by her side all these years, if you overlook the years that he spent being angry with her and distant, that was a lot to ask of one person. And he had done it without question just because.

Eight minutes later the two SUVs came to a stop in what had been the front yard of the old house. As they all made their ways to the front porch they began looking around to see if there was anyone there that they could see from the windows.

"Fates Fault?"

"Yes Dr. Reid. In England back centuries ago, when you had a large house and estate, you typically named it instead of giving it an address. And when some of the well to do families began building in the colonies and the islands they took the practice with them. Alecta's direct ancestors named this place Fates Fault. I always thought it was kind of ironic. All those years she spent in this place."

Suddenly Kevin opened the door. With his foot. He kicked it so hard it all but fell completely off the hinges.

"Sorry, Southern summer weather. Sometimes the damn doors stick." He excused himself sarcastically.

With that he led the way into the house. Just inside the large foyer, near the foot of the stairs one of the first things they saw was a darkened patch of the wooden floor.

Without even looking down, as he moved through the house helping to secure the first floor, 'That is the stain left behind from the pool of blood that formed from Mrs. King's wounds."

Once they cleared the first floor they had made their ways upstairs. Of the rooms they had checked there was nothing there. There were signs that the men had been there and that they had been keeping women there, but they were gone now.

Kevin and the team began walking around the house to take a closer look at everything.

Prentiss was running her finger over a hole in the wall behind the kitchen table, "What's this?" she asked Kevin.

"That happened the day that Jake taught her to play Russian roulette. That's where the bullet went through the wall instead of her forehead."

Kevin got tired of poking around down stairs and he, Morgan, and Hotch wound up meeting back at the base of the stairs again, heading up them one at a time.

As they headed down the upstairs hallway, they began opening doors to the rooms that hadn't been opened yet. As they came up on a particular door, Hotch placed his hand on the knob and began to turn it…

"No. Wait. Leave this one." Kevin seemed upset at the idea of this door being opened. Hotch looked at the front of the door and it had little paper cut outs of fairies that were scribbled with crayons and markers; some of them had names that had been written on them in the shaky, unsteady hand of a child. There were little wooden, rounded shaped letters that spelled out 'TINK' in soft shades of pink and green that were strung together on thin strips of satiny ribbons that were in the same soft greens and pinks. There were a few small photographs, some of which had been cut out and pasted on the door panels of a baby and then toddler Lex with her mother, a younger Mrs. King; some pictures were of Alecta by herself. There was even one of toddler Lex with toddler Kevin. Apparently they had been eating popsicles and the popsicles had turned changed the colors on their tongues; the kids were sticking their tongues out to show the colors. Alecta's was purple. Hotch lowered his head for a second, glancing at the floor.

"Kevin…"

"Yeah, I know." With that Kevin backed away, allowing Hotch to open the door. Inside the room was a fairy world. There were paper cut out fairies hanging everywhere; some were neatly colored, as if by an adult, some were scribbled, as if done by a child. There were some small fairy sculptures that were on higher shelves, out of reach of a small child. There were stuffed fairies that lined some of the lower shelves and some were piled on the floor with some other stuffed animals. There was a fluffy light blue stuffed elephant that played a lullaby when you wound the key in his left hip. Stuffed horses, stuffed bears, etc. all toppled over the floor; most of them were well worn, showing that the little girl who lived in this room had loved them greatly. There was a full sized bed in front of a set of bay windows. There were four large windows that created the bay; they were all about four feet wide and close to 10ft high, nearly floor to ceiling like the rest of the windows in the house. From the window you could look out onto the area that would have been the horse pasture of the old house. The bed clothes were actually quite frilly, very little princess….not what you would have expected considering how impoverished she had been otherwise.

Seeing the look of thought on Hotch's face, "Mrs. King made these for Lex when she was little. She told momma what kind of fabric and things she wanted and had saved a few dollars every now and then and was able to give momma the money for the fabric. She sewed it all; she wanted Lex to have something like what every other little girl had, at least one little thing."

They looked around a little more, Morgan seeing an odd worn pattern on the floor near the door and an old dresser.

Seeing Morgan stooping down to examine the pattern, Kevin spoke again, "Jake had taken the lock off of the door a long time ago. She used to try to move the dresser in front of the door to keep it shut and keep him out. It never worked; he was strong enough that he could push the door and dresser out of the way."

Morgan and Hotch just turned to look at Kevin as he walked around, perusing the room. Hotch sat down on Alecta's little bed. To the left side of the bed there was a little night table, he leaned forward to pull the little drawer open and see what he could find, but before he could do so, there was a light thud that could be heard coming from under the bed.

Kevin and Morgan both turned to look at Hotch who was looking at both of them. All three men had a bewildered look on their faces. Shrugging, Hotch knelt down on one knee from off of the bed, looking under it to see if he could find the source of the sound.

It was an old leather bound journal, one of those that have the leather tie closure to it that is quite long and can wrap around the journal itself several times before you secure it. The cover was worn and soft, feeling almost like suede. It had been a bright teal color once upon a time, but over the years it had become darker with age.

Looking up at Kevin with the question in his eyes, Hotch needed to know, 'Kevin should I?"

"It may be the only way to find out some of what we need to know. There's so much that she has never talked about, not even with me. Ordinarily I wouldn't like spying on her and reading her journal, but under the circumstances, I don't see what choice we have. Go for it. If she gets angry later, just tell her I opened it or that it was my fault. I don't care if she gets mad at me; and to be quite honest, I stand a better chance of getting away with it."

Hotch carefully untied the string, opening the book, hearing the creaky sounds the old spine made after having not been used in ages. The earliest entries were in some of the same shaky child-like handwriting as the paper dolls on the door. They were just basic, short entries, not giving a lot of detail. But even in their simplistic patterns, these entries said a lot that she couldn't say for herself. Most of the early entries were to the point saying things like '_He came back again tonight. Last night I threw up on his shoes. He always tells me that I'm his little doll.' _Or, _'He keeps calling me his princess. And I hate the sound my name makes when he says it. Daddy makes my name sound like a bad word.'_ But of all the early entries, the one that really pissed Hotch off bad enough that he thought he would stroke out was the one that had the line in it like this _'Daddy said that it wasn't fun anymore so he wanted to play a game. I don't like his games. Last night he brought his gun in with him. Since I didn't act like I was scared enough to suit him anymore, he was going to have to make sure. He kept the gun pointed at the side of my head and would wait to pull the trigger at just the right time. I wonder how many times we will have to play this game.'_

Those early entries kept going. Over the years they got more sophisticated in both language patterns and handwriting. And also in the later entries she seemed to mention some of the women that came into the house. She would give rather detailed description of each woman, even if there was no name to go by. After each description she would leave a brief detail about whether or not she had seen the woman leave alive or not. Most of the women did not leave alive.

There was one entry for March 5, 1992, Alecta would have been nearly 13, that raised a question for Hotch. _It hurts so bad…I've felt so sick for days now; even now I have the shakes and feel very weak. I have been going to school every day though. Don't want Kevin to worry. If I stayed home, eventually he would come looking for me. But I can barely stand it anymore. Something's gotta give._

What had happened; what was it that left her in this much pain? The entry was in a neater handwriting, as if done by a teenager or young adult, but it was still shaky, like she was actually in serious pain.

After the past few weeks of having known her, he could almost picture her hunched over making the entry, hand shaking, being too stubborn to just stop and wait until she felt better.

Flipping back and forth a little more Hotch found an entry that answered the question he had asked Chaz while he was at the police station. It infuriated him ever so much more than any of the previous entries had. Hotch saw nothing but red. The last time he had been this angry was when he beat Foyet to death. He was so angry, all he could see when he closed his eyes was that blinding light in his mind's eye. He shook his head trying to clear it all out so he could think straight. But that wasn't working the way he hoped.

The entry that drove Hotch to murderous rage was dated July 22, 1987. _Daddy came home with a new dress for me. It was my favorite color and everything! I didn't even think he knew I liked green; he's never seemed to care. I don't so much care about dresses. I haven't had one since I was a little girl; the last one I had, mommy got for me. This one is green. It comes to my knees. It has straps instead of sleeves because it's summer. It even has little pink flowers on the front….._

On and on that entry went; eight year old Alecta was so excited that her daddy had gotten her. She was so happy that he knew she liked green; typical eight year old girl banter really. But there was a second entry…dated July 23, 1987. It was much different.

_Daddy made me get a bath. When I was finished, he helped me get my dress on. He fixed my hair. All he did was brush it out and pull the top of it back in my green bow. He has always liked my hair. I was so happy for the dress; I didn't think….He made me go with Mr. Lucky. I don't like Lucky. Daddy said that he and Mr. Lucky are friends and I have to be nice to him…nice to him like I am for daddy and his other friends. I don't want to. I don't like daddy's friends….I don't even like that I have to be nice for daddy. But he said that Mr. Lucky gave him some money, it must be a lot. I've not seen it. I just don't want to go with Lucky, he scares me._

There was an entry made two days later that told most of what Lucky had done; none of it was very pleasant. And she was only writing then because she had lain in bed all day the day before, she had been so out of it and hadn't wanted to move.

As Hotch dropped the little journal something fell out, but he had taken no notice of it, he was still so mad he could spit nails. Kevin had turned to look at him when he heard him drop the journal on the bed, and he saw the things fall out. He came over to look at the things that fell out. Some old needles from a Christmas tree, a buffalo nickel, an old piece of paper that was so wrinkled that it was now soft to the touch. Kevin gathered the things up and put them back in the journal where they belonged. He didn't need to read any of the entries to the book, he knew most of Alecta's story by heart; besides, he didn't feel right flipping through it without her permission.

As Kevin closed the journal, re-tying the string around it, he thought of something that might help explain a thing or two.

"Did you ever wonder why she is an insomniac? Or why she is so reckless? And when you call her out on her shit she makes some sort of comment about she can't be killed or being immortal?"

Kevin studied the facial expressions of Hotch and Morgan for a moment.

"This is where it happened. She had just turned four about a month before….She said this one night, Jake came home drunker than she had ever remembered him being. As soon as he opened the door and came in the house she could tell something was different. She said that there was something in the air, you could feel it crackel. He was so drunk he could barely make it up the stairs without falling back down. He beat her momma. He did a real number on Mrs. King that night. And after he was done with her he turned on Lex. She'd been sitting in _that_ bed, waiting….she didn't even try to fake being asleep anymore.

Jake was in fine form that night, doing what he does best. She said it was the worst it had been in a long time. It was almost more than she could bear.

You believe that? She was four years old…and she talks about that night like it was every day that a father does that to his daughter.

Anyway, he was…he was so drunk…he was so drunk that he passed out on top of her. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't push him off of her.

Mrs. King struggled but she made her way up the road to the Gatling's place…I don't know for sure how long it took her. I know it takes about 15-20 minutes if you walk it at an average pace. But, it was storming that night, and Mrs. King was hurtin' something bad.

The Gatlings came back with her in their old, rattle-trap of a truck. Mr. Gatling had his rifle with him. He was finally able to get Jake off of Lex, and chased him out with the gun. It was a stroke of luck that the old man had been a medic in WWII. He knew basically what he had to do to try to save Lex's life. She was pretty much unconscious. She hadn't had a pulse for several minutes. He kept working on her. He didn't have a choice; there's no phone here, Jake never put one in. Mrs. Gatling had to take the truck back up to their house to make the call to the ambulance. But it would still take them close to another 15 minutes to get here. He had to keep trying. He got her back to breathing on her own. By the time the ambulance arrived, the EMTs checked her over, and the story that Mrs. King and the Gatlings told them was that she had choked on a piece of candy.

So you see, Lex has been dead once. She's says she got sent back because the devil doesn't like competition.

And the Gatlings had told Mrs. King that they would help her get out of town with Lex. The next afternoon when Jake came home early, that's what was happening. Rachel was packing some bags with just the barest of essentials, and trying to get out of here. But it was too late. He beat her so badly. And Lex saw the whole thing."

Hotch was doing all he could to keep the angry parts of him from completely snapping. "Let's see what else we can find, shall we."

"Kevin, Alecta said once that her dad had his own dungeon. Where?"

"That's right. Come one. I know how to find it."

On their way out of the bedroom Hotch grabbed the journal off of the bed, giving the damned piece of furniture one last look, wishing he could get the pictures of killing Jake out of his head. The three men made their way to the landing of the stairs. There was a rather tall shelf unit in the corner. Kevin had to stand on _his_ toe tips to reach the top shelf. He was able to grasp a skeleton key. Next, he moved a potted plant that had died a slow death a long time ago, even the dirt looked fossilized. Shoving that decrepit plant out of the way he was able to locate the lock that he was searching for. Inserting the key, he turned it to the right until it clicked.

By now Rossi and the others had come to find out what was going on and saw Kevin unlock the secret door.

Reid let out in exclamation, 'A secret passageway?"

"Yeah, our houses are full of 'em. They were built around 250-300 years ago. Of course they have secret passages." Kevin shrugged as if to suggest that all houses had them and that it was common practice.

Opening the newly unlocked secret door, Kevin revealed a second stair case that led down to a darkened hallway. Fumbling around the wall just beyond the door he managed to find the light switch.

"Lex knows her way over every square inch of this house in the dark, I don't; even if I did, it's still a rather creepy place…."Kevin said by way of an explanation.

He led them down the hall; there were some rooms off either side that had doors to them.

"Most of these were just storage. A few were used for different things at different times. Like this one right here,' Kevin pointed to a slightly opened door, 'this room was used to store booze during the prohibition era. They had kegs of the stuff just stock piled. The room just across from it here…that's where they made their 'shine'. They didn't have to worry about an outside still. It was a nice outfit from what my granddaddy always said."

Kevin lead the team down the hall a bit further, hanging left, coming to a second shorter hallway, he stopped.

"This is the area that Jake and the guys kept the women." Opening a door to one of the rooms, 'This is where he would make Lex stay when he and the fellas were 'entertaining. This is a two way mirror, just like at a police department. He would tie Lex to that chair and make her watch what they did to those women. If she closed her eyes and looked away, she got beaten. That's part of the reason she got tied to the chair in the first place. She would try to leave the room and run away, going back into the house or leave all together. And the men would have to stop the activities or change strategy and one of them would have to go get her. They got tired of playing tag and started tying her up.

Of course with her being in here, that just meant that any one of them could come in here after her if they got bored torturing the woman they had in _there_."

With that he led them back out into the hall and through another door into the 'play room'; there were various objects hanging from the walls and ceiling, items that were used to torture those poor women and do all sorts of unspeakable things to them.

Prentiss and Reid held up two separate devices, Reid began explaining what they were for.

Kevin hearing Reid give Prentiss the low-down, 'Yeah, they used those on Lex before."

"How do you know?" JJ asked, sounding more agitated than she had wanted to come across.

"Agent Jareau, Lex and I made a baby. It stands to reason that I've seen the scars. I've seen almost every scar she has on her body, at least once. And I can tell you what most of them are from and when she got them."

"How was Jake able to ever get out of prison?" Prentiss asked setting down one of the smaller implements.

"The fact that he did any time at all is the miracle. Ask me why."

"Wh.." Reid didn't get to finish.

"I'll tell you why. The only official in that court room that wasn't crooked was the bailiff. That's how."

"What do you mean?" Rossi wanted Kevin to get on with it.

"Well, Jake fired his original defense attorney, didn't think he was earning his keep. Truthfully, the guy wanted to be the one to flip the switch on Jake's electric chair. He hated Jake and wanted him to fry. So Jake fires the guy. Then his new lawyer, it's a guy he was chummy with in high school. The guy has an interest in getting Jake the lightest sentence he can. That rat bastard had paid Jake for his turn with Lex more than once. And then on top of things the defense attorney went to law school with the prosecutor who had his own skeletons. The judge was a wife beater and he like his prostitutes barely old enough for puberty.

Lex and Penelope were the only two living witnesses to any of what happened in this house. And Lex's testimony was getting called into question by that dirty bastard defense lawyer. He was throwing it up in her face that she lied to the cops when she was four when she told them that she hadn't seen what happened to her mother or who did it.

He tried to make it out like, if she would lie about something like that, then what else would she lie about. He made it out to sound like she might just be a rebellious teen trying to get rid of her dad so she could go about her life any way she chose.

And she sat on that stand and took it; I thought I was going to snap. And then there was that one day she just sat there and smiled at the man with that look on her face. You know the one. It's the one that says she's about to flip the script on someone. The gleam in her eye changes. It's awesome to watch. If you don't look closely you'll miss it. I love that look.

But yeah, the bailiff was the only official in that courtroom that wasn't crooked. The only reason that Jake did any time at all was because everyone associated with the case had dirt they wanted to keep hidden."

After looking around for another 15 minutes or so and finding nothing of any pertinence Kevin and the team left to meet back up at the Eason house.

Once they were back, Kevin noticed that his dad wasn't back with 2 yet.

"Momma, where's daddy and 2?"

"I haven't heard from him yet."

"I'm going to go find him. I don't like this."

"Morgan, go with him."

Before they could leave the house though, Victor came barreling into the driveway, screeching to a halt and throwing the truck in park. As soon as he jumped out, Kevin and crew could tell something was wrong. It was written all over his face.

"Vict…"

"Something's wrong. Chaz got a call from the sitter saying that there was a problem and that she needed to come over there. I tried to tell her that everything was ok, and that she didn't need to go over there.

She left anyway. I would have followed, except at the same time I got a call clear on the other side of town…an accident. A car was run off of the road. Driver's dead, wrapped the car around a tree. It was no accident.

I've been trying to reach Chaz on her cell and I'm getting nothing, it rings out to voice mail every time."

"Dad had gone out to the sitter's house to get 2…."

"I've tried his cell, no answer."

Kevin looked at Victor, and Victor watched Kevin. Kevin paced. He didn't know what to do. He needed to go see to his father. There was no telling what had happened to him. But they were still no closer to finding out where Lex and Pen were at. He was a bit like a caged tiger at this point; one more thing goes wrong and he would snap.

"Ok. I have to go out and check on dad. Before I go though….We know that they don't have the girls at the house. So, based on that I highly doubt they will be at anyone else's house…."

"Where else is there?"

"Think Victor, think."

Kevin and Victor were both wracking their brains to try to think of where they might have taken the women.

Kevin spun around on his heel almost colliding with Victor, snapping his fingers. "The old school."

"Are you sure?"

"It makes perfect sense. It was built in around 1915. The gym is a newer addition. It's actually quite a defendable perch. Two stair wells, each with their own gates that can be chained and locked. Windows, with vantage points at every angle. If you seal off the back addition that was added in the 50's, the area where they kept the kindergarten classes, you can control the back entrances fairly well. Then all you would have to do is watch the front entrance. And there is the principal's office on one side, and the nurse's station on the other. Jake and Lucky could put a man on either side and that's easy enough. The school yard is wide open. There is at least one street that runs beside it. A few acres back there is a line of houses, it's not dense…there's only a few house there..but….

If they are back to their old tricks, and if they are stashing bodies on the property, they are storing them in the freezer of the cafeteria and then burying them under the cover of night."

"You think that they would go back to doing….that?"

"A leopard doesn't change its stripes. Especially not one like Lucky or Jake. And they need a place with several acres of land that they can hide bodies. Daytime isn't so great if they're trying to hide a body, with the road that runs beside it and in front. But at night, there's not a lot of light, except the moon or stars. And they could hide the statue of liberty out there if they dug a large enough hole.

Look, I have to go see to daddy."

"I'm coming with you."

"No, Victor, you stay here. They will need your help getting to the school and with the layout. Speaking of which…" Kevin ran to his dad's study and rifled through one of the cabinets looking for something. _Score!_ He found the blue prints.

"These are a series of blue prints on the school and the free-standing gymnasium. These on top are older, they map out the original structure as it was built between 1915-1920. And these are all subsequent remodels and any changes that have been made.

Dr. Reid, you're the reader in the group, at least that's what Lex has told me, you'll want to look these over quickly. Victor, you watch _his_ back." Kevin had pointed to Hotch as he said this, "I have to go. Come on Agent Morgan."

Kevin and Morgan jumped in a truck, Morgan actually allowed Kevin to drive, seeing as he knew where he needed to go. Fifteen minutes later, the two men pulled up on a modestly small bungalow style house. It had a small front porch, just large enough for a swing on one end and two wicker chairs on the other end with a small table between them.

Walking up to the house, Morgan and Kevin noticed that the door had been kicked in. They pulled their weapons and crept up closer, quietly. Once they made it to the porch, Morgan went in first; not knowing what they might see when they went in, he didn't want Kevin to be the first one in. Together they cleared the first couple of front rooms of the house. Making it into the kitchen, they found the body of the baby-sitter. She was 22, blonde attractive; she had been slaughtered after the men who did this had their fun with her. There was no sign of 2 in the house anywhere, aside from her bag of toys and favorite things that Chaz had brought with her when she was dropped off; the child herself was gone.

Going out of the back door of the house that was off of the kitchen, they found Mr. Dan'el laying on the ground.

Running to his father, "Dad! Dad, wake up." Kevin dropped down on his knees beside his father, checking for a pulse. "He's alive, call for an ambulance now!"

Morgan whipped out his phone and began doing just that. By the time the ambulance got to the scene, Dan'el was awake and talking, although, Kevin had made him continue to lie on the ground until the EMTs got there to look him over.

Dan'el was telling Kevin and Morgan what had happened.

"When I pulled up and got out of my truck, I heard the commotion inside. They were tearing the place apart it sounded like. They heard me coming and started scattering. As I came inside, I saw there were still two of them inside. They tried to fight me, and they won, but I did get a few good swings in. I fired my weapon a couple of times; I think I may have hit one of them in the leg. I chased them out here. I got blindsided. Son of a bitch cleaned my clock pretty good. The girl, Julie…."

Kevin shook his head negatively to his father, indicating that she didn't make it.

"If you catch these bastards, you better kill them. I don't think I can do this again in another 25 years."

Although the statement was made rather dryly, it caused Kevin to snicker a bit; picturing his father in his 80's swinging his cane around beating the crap out of Jake King. The EMTs had declared it was safe for Dan'el to be moved and that he wouldn't need a hospital, but to keep an eye on him over night.

Kevin and Morgan had planned to take the old man back to the house, but he had other ideas.

"No. Take me to the old school."

"How…"

"It's the only reasonable explanation. They can't hide out at one of their houses. We know that. And that school, it's got rooms everywhere, and enough land that you could bury bodies every day of the week for at least three years and not run out of room or have to use the same hole twice. If I was going to hide Jake's body, that's where I would take it. And I would dump him in that well that is on the property and give his carcass a taste of his own medicine."

"Thought about that a lot have you, Mr. Dan'el?"

"Only since we all went to school together Agent Morgan. A man like Jake tends to put you in touch with your sociopathic side; you begin to dream of ways to kill him and which ways would be the most satisfying. Just saying…"

After driving another 10 minutes quietly Dan'el spoke again, 'Kevin did you…"

"Check the back old man."

Turning around in the back seat of the SUV, Dan'el lifted up a blanket that was sprawled out in the boot of the vehicle. Underneath there was enough fire power to start WWIII.

"Good job son." Dan'el had a small smile on his face. Kevin chuckled a bit as he turned into the parking lot of the abandoned BBQ restaurant that was maybe 250 yards from the old school. He thought back to the good ol' days when this place was _the_ place to go. Every Friday night before a school ball game everybody in town, or damn near it, would be in and out of here. Everybody knew everybody else, and you always stopped and asked 'how's your mom and them?' To most outsiders it would have been sort of a great place to visit. And to most people it would be hard to understand how a place like that would cover up something as horrible as Jake and his behavior.

Now the building sat empty, when _Jimmy's_ went out of business nobody else had ever been able to make a go of it. So now, weeds were growing in the cracks in the parking lot. The old newspaper dispenser still held a few old editions from nearly 17 years ago; a good read if you wanted to see what happened on that particular day in town history. The old statue that stood in the entry, it used to hold the inner door open for the guests, now sat collect dust and cobwebs. Kevin almost teared up thinking of the time that had gone past and what it can do to your memories.

Getting out of the truck, Morgan, Kevin, and Dan'el made it over to the group; they had pulled the two SUVs around to barricade themselves from direct line of sight of the building. Everyone was going over the blue prints one last time to make sure they were well enough acquainted with the layout.

"I hope somebody has bolt cutters,' Dan'el spoke his mind plainly.

"They're in the truck dad. Next to the sawed-off."

"More than one pair?"

"Really? You think I'm dumb enough to only bring one pair of bolt cutters."

"Good boy." Kevin rolled his eyes at his father.

"Not only that but I have four sawed-offs, a shit load of glocks, 10 smoke bombs, and a partridge in a pear tree."

"Um, are you preparing for Armageddon?"

"No. What makes you say that? This is just my private stash."

"Nice." Prentiss grabbed one of the sawed-off shot guns and a box of ammo.

Hotch took two glocks, placing them in in holsters around his waist; then he grabbed one of the shot guns. And that doesn't even take into account the spare gun he had around his ankle.

Reid grabbed two glocks, as did Rossi and JJ. Morgan grabbed a shot gun. Kevin let his daddy have the last sawed-off and the ammo that went with it. Kevin reached into the back seat, under the floor board for his own shot gun; he called it Big Bertha, and two of his own glocks. Victor had taken care of his own weapons.

"Victor, I want you to go with Dr. Reid and Daddy and concentrate on finding Chaz. Between you and daddy few people know the layout in this place better." Kevin turned and lowered his shot gun as he heard two more vehicles pulling up.

"Don't shoot man we came for back up." Spurlock, Ratliff, Spenser, and several other deputies jumped out of the latest SUVs to arrive.

"Is there anybody manning the office?"

"Does there need to be? Seriously K., if it wasn't for Jake and those idiots, we wouldn't even need a sheriff's office."

"Ratliff."

"Ah, come on. We've got 'Radar' answering phones. He knows the codes and he said he'd do it for $50 and a hot shower. And as far as deputies, there are still six of them there."

"Son…."

"Yeah I know, I know. I guess for now that will have to do. The boat?"

"In case you haven't noticed, we're on dry land."

"Spurlock, this is Jake and Lucky we're talking about here. Just because they may have barricaded themselves in here doesn't mean they don't have a plan B. is the boat on stand-by, just in case."

"Of course it is."

"Fine. Spurlock you go with Victor and Daddy. Ratliff you go with Agent Rossi and Agent Prentiss….take Stallings with you. Spenser, you take Agent Morgan and JJ with you, as well as Outland. I have Hotch with me as well as Pyatt and Copeland. Ratliff, get on the horn now and tell that cousin of yours that I want him and about 6 of his buddies to cover the perimeter. Tell them to come in quiet, park their piles behind this row of trees, and try not to get caught. Ya'll know what those guys look like, if one of them comes out, and you have a clear shot, take it; try not to kill them, but shoot them in the leg or something and keep them comfortable 'til we wrap this up. We're going to get into positions, text me when you and your guys are ready, I have my phone set to vibrate; everybody else do the same, I don't want them to hear us coming if it can be helped, we'll have enough trouble not being seen as it is."

Everyone was in agreement, and Kevin and the team started making their way up to the entrances. Kevin and his four took the entrance to the stairwell which was the farthest from the convoy. Victor and took his team to the front entrance. And Spenser took his team, including Morgan and JJ over to the entrance to the stairwell that was closest to the vehicles they had all driven.

As the teams got into their places, Ratliff was hanging back with one or two others at the vehicles; he was making the call that Kevin had requested. It would only take his guys, at most five minutes to show up; most of them lived remarkably close by. Once the six extra men showed up, Ratliff went to send the text to Kevin, but as he did, he spotted a guy up on the roof line where the first story rises into the second. He lifted his rifle and looked through the scope.

"Damn!" he exclaimed quietly; he saw the man taking aim right at Kevin. "Not my boy, not today, asshole." Luckily the rifle he happened to carry had a silencer, and laser. He took aim, and fired, hitting his target right between the eyes.

"And that is why you don't fuck with me." He boasted. He took the time to dance a little jig as if he had just run for a 90 yard touch-down.

He sent his text to Kevin and warned him about what had just taken place. And he took one more second to gloat, '500 yards, easy peasy."

Kevin shook his head catching Hotch's attention, and when asked by Hotch what was going on, he showed him the text.

The time had arrived that everyone was in place, and the extra men were lining the perimeter as much as they could cover it.

Kevin sent his text out to Deputy Spenser and told him to ready the bolt cutters to be able to unlock the gates at the entrances. As he did that Hotch went on with the same task at their own entrance.

Before entering through the front doors, Victor opened it slightly and tossed in one or two smoke bombs to give them some cover just in case. Each team in the stair wells did the same. Once they figured they were covered they moved in.

Kevin and his three team members went up one stair well. Victor and his 2 teams (including Ratliff—who had caught up to them rather quickly, Rossi, Prentiss, and Stallings) made their way into the front hall; once through the front doors you looked straight up a small flight of stairs, maybe seven steps worth, that lead into the auditorium. Victor and his three partners went there first; they checked the back stage area, and the two little rooms on either side. As expected the door that lead to the back half of the building and consequently to the two kindergarten rooms and cafeteria were bolted shut, as were the two side exits.

Once the auditorium was cleared, Victor and his teams split up and started clearing the rooms downstairs. In a couple of them, evidence was found that the men had been in there, and likely had been back at their old activities. There were traces of blood on some of the implements that were scattered everywhere.

"Where are they keeping the women?" Victor muttered to himself.

Spurlock spoke up, 'If you wanted us to, some of us could go check around the boiler room and places like that."

"I don't like the idea of us splitting up; not knowing what they have up their sleeves…."

"There's four in your team, and four in the other one. We can scramble team members or whatever, but we need to check that boiler room and the basement in general, just to cover our bases."

"I know you're right. I just don't care for this at all." Victor thought to himself for a moment. "Alright, go on; check the basement and boiler room. Be back in no more than say seven minutes; just a cursory sweep, no more. The longer we are split up, the more chance there is for something to go wrong. We will meet back up at that stairwell, closest to the entrance to the areas you will be going. If you're not back in the allotted time, we will continue on without you, and come back for you when the job is done; so don't expect back up immediately, unless you call one of us and let us know something, or text….we won't come for you."

"Fine, I think we can all deal with that." Victor and Spurlock nodded at each other and gave each other a 'be careful brother' and then Spurlock and three team members took off to do the sweep.

Luckily, during the sweep of the basement and boiler room of the school, nothing seemed to be amiss and the teams were able to meet up as appointed and continue up the stairs to help check out the second story class rooms. They saw the teams that had gone up with Kevin; the Victor's two teams as well as Kevin's two teams started at opposite ends of the hall and were planning to meet in the middle and check two small class rooms that were up a small flight of steps that consisted of only four or five steps in all.

But, as the two teams got closer to that small set of steps, they heard the PA system crackle to life, and the sounds of a woman arguing with her captor filling the air.

Kevin bowed his head, mumbling, 'Don't push it Lex."

"What did you say?" Hotch turned to him.

"Damn, Lex. She's goading them. I wish she would stop that shit. It's going to get her killed."

"Where are they?" Morgan just wanted to find them, eviscerate whoever had thought it was smart to lay the first finger on his baby girl and go home.

"Ah hell K, they could be anywhere in this building or the gymnasium if they figured out how to hot wire the PA system." Victor was getting a little pissed off at this cat and mouse game. The Greek blood running through his veins meant he was a man that faced confrontation head on; he cared little for a grown ass man that would do bad things and then run and hide like a little child.

"But they're not just anywhere, you said yourself that the first floor and basement were clear, as was the boiler room."

"And the door that leads to the back half of the building was locked tight."

Kevin began ruminating, 'Yes, but, some of them could have gone through it to escape detection and had some of the others with them lock up behind them and then shoot upstairs and scoot through a second story window onto the roof of the first floor and then go from there. You know we used to climb out onto the roof all the time as kids, it's not like it's hard. How many generations of our families have done the same?"

"My question becomes,' began Spurlock, 'how long have they been planning this fiasco? And, what is waiting for us in the gym?"

"Fuck all these questions, are we going to go find my mother or not?" The entire group jumped when they heard Rachel's voice chime in.

"Go home."

"Like hell."

"Rachel, we don't need three generations of the same damn family getting caught up in this. Go home."

"And that is my momma. She brought me into this world, with very little help. She raised me, never sparing a penny for herself. The least I can do is be there now. If I can't do it for my mother, who am I ever going to do it for? I'd like to see you make me go home."

"Listen we don't have time to argue. Rachel is a grown ass woman and she's too old to ground her to her room. You can debate whether this is the right thing or not later." Ratliff put his two cents worth in and began to walk away.

The PA crackled again, and this time Morgan could hear Penelope scream; pushing past Ratliff he began to run.

"Does that fool even know which direction to go in to get to the gym?"

"Daddy, catch him before he goes totally the wrong way. He shouldn't be wasting precious time running circles around the damned building before he finds his way." With those final words from Rachel the mass of people took off running after Morgan.

As they made their ways to the stairwell, they could all hear over the PA that one of the men was beating on Alecta again. He was beating her for no other reason than he had done jail time as a result of her testimony at the trial….that and the fact that she had helped Garcia escape all those years ago, taking away all of their fun.

They could hear whoever was beating her and Penelope taunting them that they would kill both of them and then go hunt down the other seven members of the Agnes's that anyone knew about.

Kevin groaned in exasperation when he heard Alecta's rebuttal of 'You'll be dead before that ever happens'.

As Kevin shook his head, Prentiss asked him, 'What's wrong Kevin?"

"Dare is her middle name, quite literally. I just didn't think she would take it as a challenge."

Just before the group could exit the building entirely, they heard Pen and Lex both scream _NO!_ at the same time, then there were six gun shots fired. That put a little speed in the steps of the rescuers.

All the while, hearing the beatings that Pen and Lex were taking, the group could hear the back ground noise that sounded like other women were being beaten or tortured.

At one time on the way out of the main building Victor was heard to exclaim, 'Chaz!" He had heard her voice among the noise over the PA system. And then she was quiet.

Coming out of the stairwell, and out into the driveway that ran between the main building and the gymnasium, the group turned to look when they heard the engine of a vehicle rev up. As they looked on, they saw one of the men behind the wheel and another one was stuffing Chaz into the trunk, pounding on it as he closed it.

"Shoot him." Kevin gave the order. Ratliff obliged shooting and wounding the man who had stuffed the young woman in the trunk. Spurlock took it upon himself to take aim at the driver of the car and try his best to stop him or slow him down; all he was successful in doing was taking out the back winshield.

"Go." Was all Kevin had to tell Spurlock. With that the man made a dash for another vehicle that was parked close by, followed closely by two other deputies, Spenser and Stallings. They left with a warning from Kevin to 'not let them make it to the millpond'.

With that final warning, Kevin and the rest of the crew turned to make their way into the gymnasium. But busting through the doors was proving more difficult than they thought it would.

"What the hell?..."

"Apparently they changed out the doors at some point. Instead of the old ratty doors that used to be here, now they have these damned steel doors. Sonofabitch!"

Kevin was pushed almost to the point of snapping. He could clearly hear Alecta in there, she was being hurt and he was ready to snap somebody's neck.

He began pacing again. But this time there was no floor. Rossi began to worry that at this rate, Kevin would dig a trench with all of his pacing.

"How are we going to get one of these doors open?" Reid seemed to wonder out loud.

After wearing a path in the dirt, Kevin turned around having hit upon something. He dug through the back he'd been wearing on his back since they first got started on this mission. He thought he'd seen something suspicious in there.

"Score!"

"What is it? What have you come up with?"

"I could kiss Ivory."

"Oh shit! You're gonna risk blowing up half of this block? You heard the story."

"Agent Morgan, do you have a key to this door?"

"No."

"Then shut it. I'm not letting her die in there without trying something."

Kevin set to work to attach the small bomb to the door leading into the gymnasium, after he was satisfied with his work he began to motion to the others to get back. They all ducked down behind some old playground equipment that was about 75ft away. The blast was just enough to blow the door open…it didn't level the block this time.

The team thought that all was good; they made their way back to the door of the gymnasium. But as they approached, there was gun fire. Spurlock and Ratliff got hit, going down. They weren't fatally wounded, the shots were little more than flesh wounds, but it was enough to knock them off of their feet. They had gotten lucky, the smoke from the bomb detonation had giving them some cover; had the gunman gotten a clear shot, both men would be dead right now.

Once the smoke cleared the team made their way in. As they entered the gym, they saw the two men that had fired the shots. Without thinking twice, Kevin and Victor raised their weapons and fired four shots, two shots each; out of the two shots each that they took, one entered each man's forehead and one entered the hearts. You didn't need a coroner to pronounce the two men dead.

"Y-You shot them."

"Yes, Dr. Reid. And we killed 'em while we were at it. I thought I made it abundantly clear what was going to happen here."

"Look!" JJ exclaimed.

"Damn it, No!"

Kevin set down his weapon and quickly made his way over to the two bodies that were lying in the floor. As he got closer he fell down onto his knees, sliding the rest of the way to them; he began checking for pulses, Victor helping.

"Who are they?" Victor asked as he helped to see to the women.

"They are…."feeling no pulse, Kevin corrected himself, 'They _were_ Lex's friends, Moira and Cinnamon. How did they get them? Damn it! How did they get them?"

Hotch looked at Rossi, Rossi nodded; as soon as was feasible, he would be placing some calls to find out what the hell had gone wrong.

The two young women were dead. If Lex made it out of this in one piece, nobody was sure how this would hit her.

"Now we have to get Chaz and the kid back. That's the only thing that will come close to fixing this."

"Wait, K, they've gone."

"Yeah, I know. I figure that around the time of the blast or the gun shots they used the noise to camouflage the sound of the car as they escaped, they left these two idiots here as patsies."

"Where could they have taken them?"

Kevin closed his eyes as he wiped the blood of the two dead women onto his shirt, he was thinking, deeply. Then suddenly he seemed to have a thought.

"Follow me."

"But what about…"

"Dr. Reid, there's nothing more that can be done here. They are all dead. We can still help the living, which, if I'm not mistaken, includes your friend Penelope."

"Call a county coroner." Hotch gave his usual command.

"I got that." Rachel began dialing the needed number. As Rachel called the coroner, Hotch and Kevin made arrangements for someone to guard the scene. And with that everyone made for their vehicles and followed Kevin.

Nearly an hour later the group pulled up along the shoulder of the road in front of a two-story white house. As they pulled up, the caravan had to come to a sudden stop. Looking up, Morgan saw Pen come running out of the house. She had bruises all over, a busted lip, and she was holding her blouse together as she ran; she was barefoot running across gravel.

Morgan jumped out of the SUV and went to her.

"He has her! He…." Garcia was panicking.

"Baby Girl, what's wrong?"

She was frantically pointing back towards the house, not making much sense as she hurriedly tried to get the information out.

"They had her down in the well, out back….I couldn't get to her…."

Garcia was so worked up over what might be happening to Alecta; she was starting to have a hard time catching a breath, it was as if she had run a marathon.

"Baby, we've got an ambulance coming and you're going to the hospital and getting checked out."

"NO! I'm not leaving her. The only reason they tossed her in the well was because she stopped what they were doing to….I'm not leaving her."

Morgan noticed the way that Garcia never took her eyes off of the house. She'd glance at him quickly and then back at the house.

"Pen, have you seen Chaz or the kid again?" Penelope looked up at JJ and Prentiss and shook her head before turning to try to go back in the house.

"No you don't; you're at least gonna go sit in the truck. I don't want you going back in there."

Pen tried to shove Morgan's hands from her so she could continue to make her way back into the house, but before she could do so, Hotch had ordered JJ and Emily to go with her and stay in the truck.

Pen was not a happy camper, "But I have to help her. There are too many women in there; she'll never be able to get them out by herself."

"How many are there Garcia?" Rossi had been so quiet that it shocked her to hear his voice.

"Ten, I think. That's all I saw for sure. They're gonna hurt her bad. I heard Lucky talking about it; he said something about finishing what he started…..I don't know what he meant…"

JJ and Prentiss took her back to the truck, sitting in the back with her-on either side, to make sure she wouldn't try to make a run for it to go back to the house and help Alecta.

Since Garcia had mentioned that they had dropped Alecta into the well, that was the first place that they went to check.

"Drop me down there," Kevin was tying a rope around his waist, not having time to wait for a proper harness.

A couple of the deputies that had come with them began to lower him down as he instructed.

Hotch, Rossi, Morgan, and Reid were all that were left of the original team and they had to make their way to the house alone. There were no more deputies to spare.

There were at least three that had gone trying to get Chaz and 2 before anything worse could happen to them. Two had been taken out after Kevin tried to blow the doors off of the gym. Others still had been left behind to guard the scene until a coroner had arrived to examine the two dead women as well as guard their friends. JJ and Prentiss were currently watching Garcia to make sure that she stayed in the truck as well as to watch for any signs of shock.

Hotch was the first to enter the house, he was several feet in front of the others; after hearing the declaration from Garcia, he had begun to run.

As the others entered the house behind them, they saw a man standing in the kitchen with a can of gas, sprinkling some of it on the floor. Without even thinking twice, Hotch shot him in the chest.

"_Hotch!_" Rossi exclaimed.

"You heard Kevin. Besides, that man was soaking the house in gasoline; he was about to start some shit. Now he's never going to get the chance."

Morgan checked the man's identification, "His name was David Jones. Do you think this is the one with the grudge against Davis?"

"It's very possible; I did notice that the man was stumbling around with a pronounced limp." Reid interjected.

The guys began to check rooms to look for Lex. They hadn't managed to find her, but they had found some of the women that were being held. Some of them were chained to radiators in the rooms or even in large cages. The guys began cutting them lose and helping them get out of the house.

As they were escorting the last woman out the front door towards the waiting ambulances she turned to them and told them that there was one other woman that she knew of still being in the house and that she was being held upstairs.

Hotch told the others to help these freed women and he would go back and try to find Lex on his own.

Morgan didn't care for that idea at all. But Rossi made a great point that Garcia would feel more comfortable to have him around and that the EMTs would need help with all of these women, rounding them up and getting them away from this place.

Hotch made his way upstairs, clearing each room as he went. When he came to the third room, he got the door opened and Lex was there. Her hands were tied behind her back around a post in the room and she was slumped on the floor, unresponsive. Hotch busted out a knife that she had left on the coffee table over at the Eason's house and he had grabbed before some of this began happening and managed to cut the ropes around her wrists. As he helped her stand up he had grabbed her by one of her hands, placing his free arm around her back to support her weight as he stood her up; whatever they had done to her, she was in no condition to stand on her own two feet.

Her back felt sticky. Hotch ran his hand along the length of her back a moment to try to discern whatever might be the cause; when he couldn't figure it out just by the feel of it, he steadied her against the post she had been tied to and took his hand off of her back to investigate further.

There was blood covering his hand! No wonder she was barely able to stand; Hotch began to look around more thoroughly and noticed the pool of blood that had started forming around the area where she had been seated, due to her injury.

"Take photos." Her voice was barely above a whisper, she was so weak she couldn't speak any louder; her voice was quite unsteady. Hotch began thinking about what she had just said and took out his phone and began snapping pictures as fast as he could.

"Did you get the girls out?"

Hotch told her that they had; she seemed to feel a bit better about that news, but had lost so much blood that she stills seemed so weak and she slumped.

"Come on, you have to help me get downstairs and out of this house before you can think of taking a nap"

"I'm not sleeping. I'm just thinking real hard."

"Can you walk?"

"Hmmm? Oh, yeah, why not. A walk would be loverly right about now Jeeves."

As Hotch began to help Alecta walk out of the room she began to show signs of what Hotch would have thought were delirium. She was beginning to sing 'I'm Henry VIII I am', her speech wasn't slurred, but it wasn't all that coherent either…halfway through a line from that she switched to '99 bottles of Beer'.

Just as she was five bottles in, "Ooh! Speaking of beer…Boss man! When we get home can I have just the one….I don't want all 99. Promise. I'm getting too old for that shit."

She kept on babbling about God only knows what, half of it Hotch didn't even understand half of it.

They had only made it out of the door a couple of feet and Alecta started to sag again, she was becoming too weak to walk. And he also noticed that her right arm was hanging at an awkward angle, Hotch figured it must be dislocated.

As Hotch slowed down, Alecta's knees started to give out, "No ya don't midget."

"Not funny; kick a man when she's down." Alecta slurred. She was becoming as limp as a dish rag.

Hotch knew he had to get her out of this house quick. Not only was the amount of blood loss substantial for her all by herself, but then he thought of the fact that she was pregnant as well; what would this trauma do to that baby? And right behind that thought, as Hotch scooped her up in his arms for what seemed like the hundredth time this week and headed down the stairs, was the thought of _'Where is Jake? Where is Lucky? This was entirely too easy'._

No sooner than Hotch had made it to the bottom of the stairs, he got his questions answered. Someone had stuck their foot or some sort of debris out from a room off of the first floor hallway, causing Hotch to trip and fall, dropping Alecta.

"You're not leaving with what's mine," Lucky came roaring towards him. Hotch was still trying to roll onto his back and check on Alecta all at the same time. But, for all that she had been so faint before they came downstairs, Alecta was the first to react.

Before Lucky could make any contact with Hotch, Alecta had managed to get to a standing position and block him. As Hotch got to his feet he saw Alecta fighting Lucky, trying to buy him a couple seconds to get it together. Hearing something coming from his left, Hotch turned and saw Jake coming. Jake had picked up the gas can from the kitchen and started dousing what he could of the house with what was left of the contents; striking a match against the wall of the hall as he made his way through, Jake tossed it behind him, lighting the place up. There would be no exit from the back of the house.

Kevin had been hauled up out of the well several minutes ago, and as the flames started to shoot out of the first story windows, he looked around at the people standing near him and realized that Lex wasn't among them. And then looking at the BAU team, he noticed that Hotch wasn't there either. He began to run for the house, but was being held back by the deputies.

"Son, they have the fire department coming already."

"No! They'll never get here in time." Kevin was like a caged tiger, his father new it, but he would not let that boy go into a burning building. He was the only child he and 'Ouisa ever had. And besides, what would happen if he went in to retrieve Hotch and Lex and wasn't successful? There would be three more losses that day. But Dan'el was having one hell of a time holding Kevin back, even with the aid of the two deputies helping him.

"Daddy, don't go in there." Kevin suddenly heard Rachel's voice ringing in his ears. Turning, he saw the look on her face and stopped. He knew she was right. Lex would want him to stay with Rachel. Whatever happened the girl couldn't potentially lose both of her parents right before her very eyes. Suddenly, he made eye contact with Agent Rossi; once Rossi looked over at Kevin, Kevin shifted his eyes to Rachel, and back to Rossi, trying to give Rossi the message that he needed to come and gather Rachel and get her away from this.

But while he was busy sending mental messages to Rossi, Rachel took matters into her own hands and darted off for the house.

"Rachel, no!" Was all the warning Kevin got that something was going down. He looked up and his daughter was in a dead sprint for the house, now nearly engulfed. Before the girl could get far, out of nowhere, a long dark arm shot out snagging her around the waist. Looking back to see who had grabbed her, she saw the face of Kong.

"Lemme go! She's gonna die in there!"

The giant man only made a 'tsk'ing sound as he shook his head no, throwing the girl over his shoulder and carrying her farther back away from the burning building. As he made his move, everyone looked around and saw a water truck pull up, Mac jumping down out of the driver's seat, with Immogene riding shot-gun. Mac merely nodded to Kevin as he and Immogene got to unwinding a hose attached to the truck; a truck that they had parked as closely to the house as they could get. Even if they couldn't put the fire completely out, they could at least by Hotch and Lex some precious time. They began by wetting down the front entrance and dousing some of the flames there, and then moved on to some of the windows, just as a plan B.

"I don't get it, where the hell did they come from?" Morgan was clueless.

Rossi could only shake his head, 'Never underestimate the power of the 'bat-bitch' signal."

Kevin would have laughed in that moment if things weren't so dire. He again made an attempt at running for the house, only to be stopped by another large man, closer to his own size, if not slightly taller by about five inches. As he looked at the man that stopped him this time, he heard Rachel exclaim, 'Uncle Sky."

"You need to stay here, both of you." Sky commanded solemnly.

"But momma's in there; are you crazy?"

As Rachel gave her argument, Kevin chimed in with his own, both of them finishing up with the same question about Sky's sanity.

Next thing they heard was someone yelling 'Run!'

Kevin, Sky, Rachel, everybody all looked up and saw Hotch come stumbling out of the house, coughing against the back of one hand as he dragged Alecta out by her good arm with his free hand.

They weren't out of the woods yet though. Jake and Lucky were hot on their heels. Hotch was able to drag Alecta down the front steps and into the front yard before Jake had caught up to them.

Next thing he knew a shot rang out, Hotch dove over Alecta, not putting his weight on her, to cover her in case it was a stray bullet or someone aiming at them. Much to everyone's amazement, Jake fell to the ground, he had been shot between the eyes from God only knows where.

"Gibbs!" Rossi yelled.

From behind a barn over 100 yards away, Leroy Jethro Gibbs came sauntering into view. Walking quickly, he made his way to the group.

"That shot didn't come from me this time." He nodded his head to the house that was next door.

Looking in the direction of Gibbs' vision, the team that had gathered saw Ziva standing up from her position on the roof of the nearby house, slinging her assassins rifle over her shoulder and making her way over to a ladder that was close by.

"My dad called me; he said that he thought Lex might be in danger. He gets a subscription to this town's newspaper….since he grew up in the area, he still likes to keep up with the goings on. He had read that Jake was out, he knew it was only a matter of time before something bad happened. I passed it off as my dad just being a nosy old man, until Director Vance got a call from Director David who is all the way in Israel. Director David said he had gotten information that something was going to go down."

"You let it get this far!" Thinking of his Baby Girl's image running down the side of the road barefoot as she clung to her tattered clothes had Derek ready to choke Gibbs out, Marine or not.

"We had to let this roll out the way it did Agent Morgan. If we had acted too soon, there would have been a whole internal investigation, jail time, etc. This had to be a clean kill." Tony spoke up.

"No offense, but I wasn't really talking to you now was I?

"Morgan!"

"No, they could have done something. Look what happened to Pen."

"Director David called and said that our friends there were in grave danger and that, according to his source, those men would stop at nothing to kill them this time." Gibbs continued on calmly.

In the meantime, Hotch had gotten back up and began trying to move Alecta again, this time receiving help from an EMT that took his chances coming closer. As the EMT and Hotch began to lift Alect off of the ground, Lucky came barreling out of the house after them. As it was they were close enough to the ambulances and the team of people outside that it was seen as a stupid move on Lucky's part.

Before anyone else could react, Dan'el rushed forward with his cane in his hand and cracked Lucky good in the back of the head; it broke the cane and only stunned Lucky slightly, causing him to turn around and look at Dan'el.

As he glanced at Dan'el, he began to move toward the old man who, sensing the danger he was in, picked up the closest thing to him that he could get his hands on. It just so happened to be a 2x4.

Swinging the 2x4 in the air, about to connect with Lucky's head one more time, 'I told you once, you son of a bitch, that if you ever came near her again I would make it my life's work to be you to death and I'm going to do it."

Amazingly, or terrifyingly, enough Lucky was still on his feet after the blow to his head from the 2x4; he was staggering but, he was still on his feet. And then he began to swing on Dan'el. Dan'el took a swing at the man's midsection, winding him a bit, but not knocking him off of his feet.

"Why don't you just die already?" Dan'el asked getting frustrated.

As other people began to come closer to break up the fight, Kevin actually stood back and let his dad get a few good swings in. He was there all those years ago when Dan'el initially issued the threat. Kevin knew how badly his daddy wanted to beat Lucky to death with his bare hands; the same feeling flowed through every vein in his own body, who was he to deny the man that chance.

As the team and the deputies got closer and became more involved, Dan'el became distracted, and Lucky got the upper hand against him, whipping out a switchblade and stabbing the old man quickly four times.

Hearing the commotion from her spot on the ground by Hotch and the emergency worker, Alecta sat up weakly. She was right on time to see Lucky pull out the knife.

"NO!" Alecta yelled as she struggled to get back up on her own two feet. Hotch and the EMT were trying to keep her down. As weak as she was she was able to use the momentum of the struggle to boost herself to her feet. She saw Dan'el fall.

"No, no, no." She kept screaming as she saw part of Dan'el's cane lying on the ground. The end where it broke off was jagged and sharp. As she made her way over to where Lucky stood, ready to finish off the old man, she managed to grab the broken bit of cane.

As she got closer, she closed her eyes, gathering what ounce or two of strength she had left. If this didn't work, they were both as good as dead. Lucky turned and saw her coming and got ready to make a stab against her, but she was quicker; she buried the end of Dan'el's cane into Lucky's chest as he leaned in to make his last attempt to end her life.

They fell to the ground simultaneously; Lucky had the end of the cane sticking out of his chest, and Alecta had the switch blade he had been using sticking out her torso, just below her sternum.

This time there was no way to hold Kevin back, he shrugged off his dad and anyone else who dared to grab him. Rachel was still slung over Kong's shoulder and was struggling to get down. Before she could get down though, Hotch had made it over to where Alecta was lying.

"Don't move the knife. You don't know what may have been damaged when she was stabbed."

"Yeah, I sort of figured that already. Where's all this other blood coming from?"

"She had a wound of some sort to her back."

Suddenly, Garcia's words came back to him; _Lucky said something about finishing what he started_.

"That son of a bitch." Kevin shot back up to his feet.

"Where are you going?" Hotch called out to him.

"I'm going to make sure that bastard is dead. I'm tired of everybody coming back from the grave."

Rossi met Kevin over at the body of Lucky, lying there on the ground. He looked like Goliath having been struck down by someone far smaller than himself.

Pushing Kevin back, "He's dead son, let it go."

"I have to know for sure; let me see him for myself."

"Go back over to her."

"No, I'm gonna make sure he's dead."

"No! Back off. Go back and help Hotch make sure that Alecta is alright. If she thinks that you are losing it, it will stress her out. Do you think she needs that right now?"

By the time Kevin could get turned around to go back over to Alecta, she had shoved Hotch and the EMT out of her way and was crawling on her knees, supporting her weight with her good arm; she was crawling towards Dan'el.

Hotch was trying to stop her and get her to just be still but she wouldn't hear of it.

"Daddy…."Kevin tried getting his father's attention.

"Lexa girl, I'm alright. Just gotta have the doc stitch me up a bit." Dan'el had begun to sit up a little to let her know he was telling the truth. "You need to be still. Let the medic see to you."

Alecta only nodded her head. She practically collapsed right in her tracks, knife still sticking out of her wound. The medic that had been trying to see to her in the first place made his way over to her, being joined by a female counterpart.

"Her pulse is weak." The lady medic was double checking, 'Very weak. We will have to transport immediately."

Two other medics came running with the gurney to help load her on it. As they loaded her on to the gurney and started wheeling her to the ambulance, her hand shot out and grasped at Hotch's wrist; he made a mental note of the fact that her fingers didn't go all the way around before he looked into her eyes.

"Daddy and the others?"

He saw her struggling to stay conscious, "Dead."

She seemed to relax for a moment, 'Thank you God."

Suddenly, she gasped and drew up. "We have to get her to the hospital, _now._" One of the medics warned them. "To wait would be fatal."

"I'm coming with you."

The medic that had stayed with Hotch and Lex the longest made sure the others didn't argue.

"Then come on if you're coming."

**When fate's got it in for you, there's no limit to what you may have to put up with.  
- Georgette Heyer**

**"I know I am deathless. No doubt I have died myself ten thousand times before. I laugh at what you call dissolution, and I know the amplitude of time." —Walt Whitman**

**Post AN: Ok. So this might have been a strange place to cut Chpt 9 off, but it was huge, and I had to stop somewhere, right. At this point I have no idea what to expect out of chpt 10. Hopefully I don't lose the few readers I have in this chapter…at the half-way point I have snacks and flashlights for ya.**

**I said it on facebook, and I will say it here; I think that, at least length wise, this chapter was a personal best for me. it's the longest single chapter I have written. I just hope that the content was worth it.**


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: And we're on to chpt 10. Hopefully this won't be another epic like 9 was, but we'll see what happens.**

_The ride in the ambulance to the hospital was pretty bad. The EMTs were trying to stop or slow down the flow to the stab wound near Alecta's chest; they had to try to stop the bleeding there before they could even begin to work on the bleeding coming from her back. The hard part was getting the blade out of her; they weren't sure if it would have nicked a vein on the way in or if it was a clean entry wound. But she was bleeding A LOT from both areas._

_By the time the ambulance pulled into the entry of the emergency room of the hospital, Alecta's pulse was thread at best and her skin was beginning to take on a grey pallor. Her right hand had fallen off of the gurney and Hotch had taken it and put it back where it belonged; it was turning cold. He began to actually worry. What if her usual luck didn't hold out this time? _

Getting out at the hospital, Hotch was not allowed beyond the doors to the operating room. It felt oddly enough like the time when they had to fake Emily's death. The only exceptions being that this wasn't Emily, and this wasn't fake.

Hotch had initially stopped just outside of the doors to the O.R., he was standing so close to them that, if anyone came rushing back through them, he would easily be knocked down by the swinging of the doors alone. He turned to his right just a little and saw the rest of the team coming into the hospital. He slipped back into 'Hotch' mode, the usual stone wall that most people got; although, if he had to be damned honest, it took a little force on his part to achieve what he hoped was a believable façade. Realizing that there was nothing to be done on his end for the time being, he made his way over to the rest of the team as they were filing into the waiting room that a nurse had directed them to.

"Where's Kevin?" Hotch didn't see him with the others.

"He's making sure his dad's being seen to, and then he'll join us." Hotch couldn't fool Rossi, he knew better; and it had little to do with Rossi being older and having more experience than Hotch. No. Rossi was damned worried about Alecta as well. He loved that girl. Since he and his first wife had buried the only child he'd ever had, Rossi had never really given much effort to having more children. He wasn't sure he could go through all of that again. Meeting Alecta, getting to know her, that was as close as he'd come since to having someone that he thought of like his own child. Sure, he thought of most of the younger team members as kids, especially Reid. But, Alecta was the only one that he felt like was _**his**_ kid. Rossi kept thinking back to the poor girl he met in the psychiatric hospital; that poor lonely soul that had nobody on her side at all. She had shut away in that place to be buried and forgotten. All she wanted was to be remembered. She wasn't asking for much. She didn't want a parade in the city streets in her honor. She didn't want a Nobel Prize. She didn't want the Mayor to give her the keys to the city. She just wanted someone that would look her in the eye and tell her 'Thank You'. She wanted to be able to walk into a room and not feel like everyone was looking at pond scum when they looked at her. She had stepped up and done this undercover job when nobody else would. She put everything she had on the line for the job, and after all that she was made to feel like slime on the bottom of their shoes. And it's true, that Rossi had dropped the ball when it came to keeping in contact with her. But since she had come back into his life and the life of the team, he had made the best effort he could to be there if she wanted to talk.

As Hotch sat down, Mrs. 'Ouisa and Mrs. King showed up with the kids. Rachel had called them and told them to meet the team there at the hospital.

Mrs. King looked especially upset.

"What's wrong dear?" Rossi asked, letting an endearment slip.

"Nothing. It's Thursday. My husband has tried yet again to kill my child. What could possibly be wrong?"

"There's more than that though. I know the question sounded stupid, maybe a little insensitive….but talk to me."

"It's just….she was born in this hospital, on the fourth floor actually. And now….now…she might…."Mrs. King was so upset she could only shrug her shoulders as she stood. She began pacing, and then she stepped to the nurse's station and began to ask them what she wanted to know.

"Jake King. He might have been brought in by ambulance by now."

"And who are you to him, ma'am?"

"I'm his wife that's who. And that young woman in there, in surgery right now….that's my only child. Just tell me where Jake is."

"Rachel come sit down. You have to stay calm until we find out what's going on with Lex."

"Don't tell me to calm down. I want to see him."

Rachel, the younger one, jumped up from her seat, knowing her grandmother wouldn't be persuaded to calm down, 'Come on, I can take you to him."

Mrs. King stopped her tirade and turned to the girl and followed her. They got on the elevator and mad their way down to the morgue.

Hotch looked over at Rossi, Rossi just shook his head in exasperation.

"Now do you see the family resemblance?" Rossi asked Hotch in a light hearted manner. Hotch merely nodded his agreement.

The kids all sat down quietly. Sofie hopped up on Oleg's lap, and Emma sat between Sasha and Eva. Jazzy sat with JJ, Will, and Henry; she was actually sitting on JJ's lap, with her head resting on the woman's shoulder. The little girl had been crying her eyes out, like Alecta's young children, when she found out Lex was hurt. Right now Jazzy was just drained and was resting against JJ until she could feel better. Henry was leaning against his father, swinging his feet back and forth; he was holding his daddy's hand in one of his. Jack had curled up leaning against Sasha, laying his little head on her lap; he was dead to the world.

Kevin finally made his way out into the waiting room.

"How's your father?"

"Agent Morgan, he'll be alright. That's what they say anyhow. It seems that not all of Lucky's aim was, um, lucky. Lex, how is she?"

"They still haven't come out and given us an update yet. But they should be telling us something soon." Hotch was somewhat optimistic on that point.

"If not, I will not be afraid to show my ass." Rossi informed everyone.

"Get in line old man. This is my back yard. Mom worked here; Lex and I were born here, weeks apart. Daddy was up here a lot working cases as sheriff. I can get you what you need faster than raising hell. If I can't, _**then**_ we raise hell."

Rossi clapped the young man on the back with one hand, chuckling at his technique.

"How are the injured deputies doing?"

"They'll live. Lucky for us, those guys couldn't aim for shit."

It was another several hours before the team and Kevin were updated very much at all. There had been a nurse, someone that had gone to school with Kevin and Lex both as children that would come every 30 minutes and let Kevin know something at least; it didn't matter if it was just to say, that there was no change, or to say they closed up the knife wound. None of that mattered. She would come and tell him something, anything. For all the years she gave Lex hell, she knew that Kevin had always watched her back. And Kevin as a grown man was 6'5, could bench press about 400lbs, and, when it came to Lex had a short fuse if you came between them. He was not the one that you wanted to try to hold back if he snapped.

The 30 minute updates weren't enough to keep Kevin and Hotch from pacing, even if it did help to keep one of them from going off on the hospital staff.

"Sit down the both of ya. You're making me nervous." This was the first time that Sky had said much other than when he tried to help keep Rachel under control at the house.

"Sky, is it? Why don't you try me?"

"Listen…Kevin….Lex loves ya to death. But don't think I won't level you if you push me. She spent 25 years paying for one wrong decision. Twenty-five years, Kevin. Even when she was married she was alone. Do you know what that did to her? No, you don't, you have no idea, because you never troubled yourself to pick up a phone or open your mail. You sent everything back to her unopened. You knew where to find her and you did nothing.

I had to watch her try her damnedest to not fall completely apart when she first found out that she was pregnant. Before she even wrote to you the first time, she was terrified to be alone. She had no family, except the baby she was carrying. She had no friends, except for me, Big Ben, and Paul, as well as Moira, Cinnamon, and Lady Heather. We were all she had. She went through every day with a smile plastered on her face, a joke at the ready. But it was either smile and laugh or just fall apart crying. You could see it in her eyes.

And then when the baby was born…Rachel….she had your hair and eyes from day one. It was nearly more than Lex could stand. She had to wake up and see your face on that child every day; and then when she made up her mind to write to you and tell you about her situation you treated her like the plague. All the sudden she was no good to you because _you_ got hurt. She wrote to your parents the whole time. She never expected a penny from them, never asked for one either; they had the common decency to reply and send birthday and Christmas cards. After two years of trying to make headway with you and tearing herself apart inside-out, she gave up.

Rachel was getting bigger, she was getting precocious. She looked like you but had Lex's personality in spades. And you weren't there.

When Lex came back from being under-cover, she lost everything. She even lost her mind for a time. She had left Rachel in Lady Heather's care, and mine. We weren't told what psychiatric hospital she was at. We tried to find her. I went to Los Angeles and spoke to her captain, and he said that she had told him not to reveal it to us. She didn't want us to bring Rachel to see her in that condition.

And of course you weren't there again. At least that's what she said when she was released. She said you never came. Sergei couldn't go see her, but that made sense, he was completely identical to his brother. It set her back every time he did go.

So don't get on your high horse with me son, I will leave you laying right here in the floor until this time next week. You may think you're the biggest dog on the block, but you ain't ever met anyone quite like me. So _park it_." Then turning to Morgan, 'How is your friend Penelope?" Kevin merely looked into the larger, older man's eyes. He saw that the man meant what he said. Kevin nodded his head a couple of times, and then sat down. He would be willing to fight 10 Jakes or Luckys any day of the week for ever laying a hand on Lex in the first place; but this man, Sky had a point after all, and that was one thing he couldn't and wouldn't argue with.

"I don't know yet. She wasn't as badly injured as the others; but they wanted to look her over just to be safe. They haven't said anything yet. Emily is with her though. Thank you for asking after her."

"Of course. Alecta has always cared a great deal for her. It would kill her if Pen didn't come out of this with minimal damage."

After close to seven hours of mind numbing waiting, a doctor finally came through the doors to the O.R. into the waiting room.

"Alecta Davis?"

At least 15 people stood up.

"Is there any family here?"

Everybody looked around. Sasha stepped forward. "We are her children. But these people are very close friends of hers, so anything you have to say can be said in front of them. She would want them to know."

"Very well then. We were able to finally close the knife wound to her diaphragm. Once that was done, we were finally able to roll her over and close up the wounds to her back."

"What was that wound? It was bleeding quite profusely."

"Agent Hotchner?"

"Yes sir, I rode in with her."

"It appears as though someone took an instrument….the wound tracts looked as though it may have been done with something as precise as a scalpel….and they literally carved into her back."

"What did they carve?" Rossi questioned.

"Angel's wings." Kevin and the doctor said simultaneously.

Everyone looked at Kevin including the doctor.

"Yes. He's correct. The carving was of angel's wings. There was some old scarring that looked like this sort of thing had been done before, and that part of this recent carving opened up the older wounds, continuing down her back. The bottom tips of the wings stop just slightly above her hips. The width of the wings spans nearly the entire width of her back. It was quite extensive, and was done with a fair amount of workmanship. I have stitched her up as well as I can. As she recovers, there should be minimal scarring left in the long run. We will keep clean bandages on her. And once she is released someone will need to care for her around the clock for weeks."

At this point, Kevin tuned the doctor out and looked over at Hotch. Funny thing was, Hotch was staring back at him. Each one knew what the other was thinking without saying a word.

"Dr.?" Rossi asked interrupting, seeing as Kevin and Hotch were out in left field right now.

"Yes sir?"

"Were there any other injuries?"

"What do you mean?" the doctor had some idea of what the older gentleman was getting at, but just make sure that everyone was clear on what was going on, Rossi needed to be specific.

"Had she been…" Kevin couldn't bring himself to say it out loud.

"Was she sexually assaulted?" Rossi had no issues asking the damned question. Alecta was as close as he'd ever get to having his own daughter. And damn it, he wanted to know what was going on.

"I didn't get such a good look while we were in surgery, I had all I could do to stop the bleeding and get her stitched up. I will say that it looked like there was a possibility of it, so I ordered some tests to be run just to cover our bases."

"Well if you're running a rape exam, you may want to make sure that she is still under sedation when it's done."

"Why?"

About that time they heard a commotion coming from one of the exam rooms.

"Well…..she's awake." Kevin said dryly.

The doctor took off running down the hall to check on the staff member who had been assigned to run the rape exam on her; Hotch, Rossi, Kevin, and Reid were all hot on his heels.

Once they reached the exam room they saw Alecta sitting up in the bed, her knees curled closely to her chest, one arm wrapped around them. Her other arm was slightly extended, with a scalpel in her hand. The staff member was half way across the room, having run and slid on the floor to get out of her reach. Her hand was to her neck; apparently when Alecta came too, all she understood was that someone was putting their hands on her and she didn't care for it at all. So she quickly grabbed the first thing she could put her hands on and took a swing with it. Never mind the fact that they had a female doctor to do the exam; in her sedative addled brain, Alecta had not been able to draw any conclusions….all she had managed to figure out is that there were hands on her and they were in some very private places, and needed to be removed.

The doctor who had been responsible for Alecta's surgery ran over and began to attend to his fallen colleague; luckily the cut to the woman's neck wasn't that deep, just about five stitches should be enough to close the wound.

When Kevin went to Alecta's side to try to comfort her she whirled around on him, shoving him away from her.

Hotch put his hand out to pull Kevin back before he got caught by the scalpel of death as well; when he did so, the scalpel sliced through the back of his hand.

"Ow!" Hotch drew back, wincing.

This seemed to wake Alecta up more thoroughly; she dropped the scalpel, allowing it to clatter to the floor. She looked up at Kevin and Hotch, her eyes were wide open, in shock at what had just happened. The same weary look that had been in her eyes since the day Hotch met her was still there if not deeper.

"I'm sorry….I-I-I'm s-s-s-s…."

"Lex, it's nothing, baby. It's just a scratch. He'll live. We'll stick a bandage on him and he'll be good as knew." Kevin knew as soon as he saw tears that this was gonna be harder than he thought. Lex never did like for anyone else to hurt, not if it was one of the good guys. And he knew about her stutter; most of the time she was able to move through life without it, but at times of great emotional stress or panic the stutter would come back. Sometimes she sounded worse than Porky Pig, although Kevin never had the heart to tell her so; that would have made things so much worse for her.

"You're gonna mess up your stitches doll face. Stop trying to move around so much hard head."

As Kevin tried to calm Alecta down, it wasn't lost on anyone present how much like Morgan and Garcia the two sounded; it was uncanny.

Almost as soon as the thought was in the air, Alecta began to really look around.

Sniffling a bit, trying to pull herself together, 'Where's Pen?"

"She's ok. Emily's with her." Rossi tried his best to placate her.

"That's not what I asked. I asked…Where is she?" Alecta began trying to get up out of the bed, still a bit woozy from being under sedation, and weak from her injuries; but she was trying to still be in control of everything in her universe.

"Dr. I think she might have popped a stitch or five." Kevin said, noticing the red staining the bandages and soaking through the hospital gown that was wrapped around her little frame.

"Please lie back down. I will have to close them up again. This is a record for one of my patients to have reopened a wound this quickly. Proud of yourself?"

"Where's Pen?"

"Your friend, the blonde?"

"Yes."

"If I tell you will you get back in the bed please?"

Alecta nodded her head sniffling, not taking her eyes off of Hotch and his injured hand. She reminded him so very much of Sofie and Emma. _And of 2; where was the kid, and Chaz? He would have to bring that up as soon as possible._

"First thing's first. Agent Hotchner, go with nurse Metcalf and get that hand seen to.' The doctor watched as the nurse led Agent Hotchner away. He noticed that Alecta seemed to be worried about him leaving the room.

"Do you want her to bring him back and fix it here?"

"Oh, n-n-no. I don't like the sight of blood." This comment struck the doctor as a tad ironic, but he just shrugged it off.

"Where's Pen?" Alecta was relentless in her pursuit to find out what had happened to her friend.

She _had_ gotten back into bed like the doctor asked, aided this time by Kevin.

Holding up his end of the bargain, the doctor answered, 'She is in another exam room down the hall. She wasn't as severely injured as you were, but under the circumstances she needed to be looked over, as a precaution."

Alecta looked at Reid, knowing he was close friends with Morgan…the two were like brothers. 'I tried….I-I t-t-t-tried s-s-s…."

Reid seemed to understand what she was trying to tell him, 'She'll be alright. Emily is sitting with her; Morgan is waiting patiently…"

"Liar. Morgan could chew holes through the nurse's station right now."

Before the doctor could come close enough to try to do anything about her stitches, Alecta jumped back down out of the bed. It took some effort on her part to stay standing, but she drug herself out of the exam room and down the hall, holding on to the wall. She made her way to the waiting room area and saw Morgan sitting there.

"Morgan, I p-promise…I tried to s-s-stop them." Tears were running down her cheeks now. Garcia was her friend, she should have done more to protect her, and she should have fought harder.

Morgan could look at her and tell how hard she fought to make sure they got out alive. There was a nice bump on her head, near her temple; the bruise with it was going to be a lovely shade of purple in a few hours. Morgan simply walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her; she was barely able to stand on her own two feet. She was clutching the wall with a death grip in the effort to try to remain upright.

"I know you did,' he whispered in her ear. She began to cry so much harder at the thought that one of her best friends was hurting. After a couple of minutes Hotch came back out having received about seven stitches in his hand and he saw Morgan hugging Alecta and Alecta sobbing her eyes out about how sorry she was that Garcia had suffered at all.

"Kind sirs, we have to get her back in here so I can stitch her back up, I don't want the wound to become infected. Please."

Morgan looked over at Hotch, then lifted Alecta up in his arms and carried her back to the exam room to have the stitches that she had been in such a hurry to rip reclosed.

In the time that it took to reclose Alecta's stitches, Penelope's exam was all done and she was cleared to leave; she chose to go out to the waiting room and sit with Derek.

"What did the doctor say baby?"

"Not here, not now." Pen was shaking her head _no_.

Derek had to take a deep breath and realize that he'd have to wait; he couldn't push her to talk. Knowing the way Pen worked though, she'd likely try to find any way that she could to avoid talking about it. And she was good at it, too. She would find some other thing to bring up, like asking about whether his mom was still nagging for grandbabies, and get him distracted. Or if he pushed any of her other buttons, she would start babbling a mile a minute about something mundane going on between herself and JJ and Emily. Penelope Garcia could dodge questions the way he dodged bullets, like a pro. If leading conversations and babbling didn't work Pen was not above trying to use her big brown eyes and considerable curves to make you forget. Morgan supposed she was trained by one of the best.

Just after Pen came into the waiting room and sat down next to Derek, the doctor came back out and let everybody know that the stitches had been doctored up and she was being placed in a private room.

Kevin went first to go see her. He wasn't going to stay long, he just wanted to make sure she was getting settled in as comfortably as possible; he really needed to get back down and see how his daddy was doing. The doctor working on Dan'el said it was likely he could leave in the morning; they were just going to stitch him up and give him a dose of pain killers to let him sleep through the night and then send him home with a prescription. They knew Mrs. 'Ouisa would be able to take proper care of him at home, and few people wanted to test a moody Dan'el; he was worse than the lion with the thorn in his paw.

Rachel had managed to get her grandmother, Mrs. King, down to the morgue without further incident. They walked in and the M.E.'s assistant led them over to the body; afterwards he gave them a few moments to have some time to themselves. Mrs. King kept poking his cheek, expecting him to wake up. There was a part of her that could now understand some of the uncertainty that Alecta must have felt for most of her life. Jake had perpetrated such a reign of absolute terror over their family for so long. The fact that he was lying there cold and dead, no life in him anymore, it was mind boggling to Mrs. King. She kept expecting him to snap awake and grab her by the throat and sling her around the room as he had done on so many occasions.

"Come on Nanna. He isn't going anywhere any time soon."

As Rachel and the older woman exited the morgue, the medical examiner asked Mrs. King what she intended to do about arrangements for the body. Mrs. King was quite unsure about what to do. She had never in a million years thought that this day would ever come or that she would be alive to enjoy it.

Yes, _enjoy it_. It sounded horrible to even think that she could ever enjoy the death of another human being. But when it came to Jake King, death hadn't come a moment too soon, and it was such a relief that he was finally gone. Mrs. King could finally draw the freest breath that she had been able to take since she was a young girl. Suddenly, it was as though the heaviest weight was off of her chest.

Meanwhile back in the waiting room, Kevin had been talking to one of his deputies that had taken off to go get Chaz and 2 back.

"They will be fine Kevin, don't sweat it."

"What happened?"

The deputy looked behind them as the crane pulled the car out of the water. Chaz and her little girl had been in the trunk when it went in. The two men who were in the front of the car had gotten out and rigged it so the car would go over the bank of the river on its own power. When they got out of the car and turned to make a fast get away, the deputies were there. The third deputy that had come with them was already on the horn to call for the crane and some paramedics to get there immediately.

The two men from the car were brewing for a fight. They charged the deputies and a physical fight ensued. Finally Deputy Spenser was finally able to pull his gun and shot the man that he had been fighting with six times, killing for sure. Ratliff was still struggling with the man he was stuck with. Finally in a desperate attempt, Ratliff reached out his hand and grasped a fairly solid tree limb that was lying near him, and he swung blindly connecting with the side of the man's head. It stunned the man and he let go of Ratliff. Ratliff jumped up and swung on the man three more times; he would have kept swinging too, if Spenser and Stallings hadn't stopped him. But the man was dead now, the only thing that Ratliff would have continued to swing for would have been for sport; and that would have made him no better than the man on the ground.

After thinking over the immediate happenings, Ratliff answered, 'Um, can we discuss this when we get up with you. We're going to be bringing Chaz and the kid to the hospital to get looked over. I'm pretty sure that Chaz will have a concussion but I don't know about 2."

"Fine. Just get here as soon as you can…Is that the crane I hear? What's going on?"

Kevin kept asking questions and Ratliff hung up on him deciding they could hash it out later. Right now, he had to bust open the trunk on this old beater and get Chaz and the little girl out. Kevin could scream at him later all he wanted.

Forty-five minutes later, Ratliff, Spenser, and Stallings had showed up to the hospital; Ratliff had hitched a ride with the ambulance. Chaz and her little girl 2 were quickly taken to be examined. The little girl only had a few bumps and bruises on her from tumbling around in the trunk of the car, especially when it started going into the water. Chaz had been beaten, though not too severely considering all of her training in law enforcement, but she did have a decent concussion brewing. But it seemed as though Chaz and the kid would get to go home within the next couple of hours. The only person with a very lengthy hospital stay would be Alecta; Kevin was overjoyed, Alecta was so cooperative under normal circumstances, she would be an absolute dream to deal with at this time. Having to deal with a hospital bound Alecta was liable to make a root canal look like a trip to Disney World.

Kevin had decided he would go home, following his parents, to see if he could help his mother get his father comfortable and grab a shower, and then he'd come back a little later.

Hotch and Rossi had both been in to visit her for a couple of minutes each. Her mother had been by to see her. The doctor had recommended keeping it short because she was likely to be dozing on and off anyway; they couldn't put her on the typical pain killers and other medications they might would have put someone else on due to her pregnancy, but nonetheless, the meds they did have her on were apt to make her quite sleepy. Mrs. King rode back to the house with Kevin and his parents to get something to eat and rest a bit, and she would be back later, likely coming along with Kevin when he came back. JJ and Will said that they would take the kids with them when they left, if everyone else was in agreement so they wouldn't have to stay cooped up at a hospital all night long.

Of course Sofie, Emma, and Jazzy weren't really having it. For all that Sofie was her mother's little drama queen, it was actually Jazzy this time that led the charge. She took off down the hall, dead set on seeing Alecta or to die trying.

Before the adults could stop her she had made her way into the room and managed to vault up onto the bed without much effort at all. Alecta had been out cold, sleeping hard, due to the effects of the meds they had her on. Jazzy was undaunted. She shook Alecta by the shoulders until she had forced her to open her eyes.

Alecta's eyes were so heavy, they felt as though they had lead weights tied to the lids; she looked at Jazzy and saw the tearful expression in the child's eyes. She knew that the little girl, in her heart of hearts, was concerned about Alecta's health in a way that only a child could be, but she also knew that the little girl was worried about what would happen to her if she was left alone.

Looking into the little girl's blue eyes Alecta just winked at her whispering, 'You can't get rid of me this easily."

The little girl perked up and just planted a big sloppy wet child-like kiss on Alecta's cheek and hugged her the best she could while still doing her best not to hurt her.

"Move it Jazz, my turn." Sofie and Emma came bounding into the room, right behind her. Jazzy was quite alright now; she had heard it from the horse's mouth that things would be alright. You couldn't rain on her parade anymore today.

"Miss Agent lady,' Jazzy started excitedly as she walked over to JJ to wait, 'she tol' me she was 'k." You could see the excitement written all over the little girl's face; judging by the look on her face you would have thought it was Christmas. The little girl practically squealed with excitement.

Sofie and Emma were talking to their mother, and she was giving them instructions to listen to the others while she was gone and she would be out of this hospital as soon as possible. She told the girls that their older sisters and brother would be there to help look after them and that they better do as they were told.

Sofie placed her hands on either side of Alecta's face, stroking her mother's cheek, 'Oh, mommy, of course we'll be good."

"Sure you will." Alecta's eyes started getting heavy again; she could barely keep them open.

"Mommy,' Emma whispered close to her ear.

"Hmmm?" Alecta's eyes closed heavily before opening very slowly again, and not even all of the way when they did.

"How's about I make Sofie behave. Will it be ok?"

"Mmm…" Alecta didn't have the energy to form another thought in her head, much less put a voice to it.

Emma leaned over to Sofie and pinched her arm, 'Ow! Why'd you do that?"

"Sofie, mommy not feel good, you gotsa behave. Don't do no bad stuff. And don't tried ta be the boss of me." With that Emma leaned over and kissed her mother on the cheek and hugged her neck the best she could, as Jazzy had before her. Sofie relented and hugged and kissed her mother as well.

Everyone filed back out into the waiting room to discuss what would happen next. Morgan had talked Pen into going back to the Eason's house. She didn't want to at first, she wanted to stay close to Alecta; they were friends after all, and she wanted to make sure that Lex was going to be ok. But after their ordeal, Pen was super tired, and could use a few good hours rest in a real bed. So in the end, Pen gave up the argument and let Morgan take her back. What he didn't understand is that she wasn't sure she could sleep. You can't just unsee the things that she has seen today. You don't just erase that from your memory. But she also knew that Derek would be there if she had any problems. Knowing how protective Derek could be over her she realized that to be able to pry Derek off of her anytime soon would require a stick of dynamite and a crow bar.

Hotch and Rossi had decided to stay and keep a check on Alecta over night; this didn't shock anybody, although, Hotch had tried to talk Rossi into going back with the others, but the old man refused. He wasn't leaving the side of the closest person he had to a daughter.

There had come a point when the doctor chased them out of the room for the night when the bandages needed to be changed. They had fallen asleep in the waiting room while they waited for the doctors to finish. They didn't see the older man that walked right past them with the smile on his face. He checked at the nurse's station to find out what room number he needed, when asked if he was family, he merely told her in his thick accent that he was the young lady's uncle. His eyes were dark, like the patient's. His hair, although quite grey, looked as though it was at one time dark, like the patient's. There were other ways that he seemed to have some striking favor to the patient. After careful consideration, the nurse gave the man the room number he requested.

After getting the needed information the older, distinguished gentleman made his way down the hall to the room he wanted.

**Ok, strange stopping point. But I will reveal the visitor in the next chapter; else this thing would have gone on forever (people's exhibit Chpt. 9). Tzofiya is a Hebrew girl's name, it means 'Guardian'. That should be a small clue as to who this visitor is.**


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: So if Chpt. 9 was an epic (length wise), chapter 11 is quite a bit shorter; but I hope that it's just as good. No special quotes for this one but I thought of the song that I have added….**

**"Secrets" (One Republic)  
I need another story  
Something to get off my chest  
My life gets kinda boring  
Need something that I can confess**

**'Til all my sleeves are stained red  
From all the truth that I've said  
Come by it honestly I swear  
Thought you saw me wink, no  
I've been on the brink, so**

**Tell me what you want to hear  
Something that will light those ears  
Sick of all the insincere  
So I'm gonna give all my secrets away**

**This time don't need another perfect lie  
Don't care if critics ever jump in line  
I'm gonna give all my secrets away**

**My God, amazing how we got this far  
It's like we're chasing all those stars  
Who's driving shiny big black cars  
And every day I see the news  
All the problems that we could solve  
And when a situation rises  
Just write it into an album  
Send it straight to gold  
But I don't really like my flow, no, so**

**Tell me what you want to hear  
Something that will light those ears  
Sick of all the insincere  
So I'm gonna give all my secrets away**

**This time, don't need another perfect lie  
Don't care if critics ever jump in line  
I'm gonna give all my secrets away**

**Oh, got no reason, got no shame  
Got no family I can blame  
Just don't let me disappear  
I'ma tell you everything**

**So tell me what you want to hear  
Something that will light those ears  
Sick of all the insincere  
So I'm gonna give all my secrets away**

**This time, don't need another perfect lie  
Don't care if critics ever jump in line  
I'm gonna give all my secrets away**

**So tell me what you want to hear  
Something that will light those ears  
Sick of all the insincere  
So I'm gonna give all my secrets away**

**This time, don't need another perfect lie  
Don't care if critics ever jump in line  
I'm gonna give all my secrets away  
All my secrets away, all my secrets away **

The older man continued down the hall to the appointed room. For a moment he just stood in the door way as he looked in. Alecta was asleep finally, although she didn't really look comfortable; she had been through a bandage change not more than 20 minutes ago, and although the pain pills were making her sleep, they weren't really strong enough. She looked like she was still in great pain; her brows were knitted closer together than he could remember seeing them before.

Coming closer to the bed, he whispered 'Tzofiya." He leaned down and kissed her forehead and took a package out from under his arm. He opened it; there was a blanket….a patch-work blanket, made out of several different scraps of cloth in a myriad of colors and patterns. The blanket was from Israel, he brought it with him. He unfolded the blanket, it was nice and thick; Alecta was always cold natured anyway. He placed it over her, tucking her in snuggly and sat down in the chair next to her bed.

When he got the warning from his connection that something was going to go down, he'd called his daughter and told her to get Gibbs ready. As soon as he got off of the phone with Ziva he arranged his own flight out of Tel Aviv.

Director David was sitting there reading a book that she had bought him on one of her last trips to the Holy Land. When she bought it, he had taken her into town and she got sidetracked at one of the many street vendors selling books. This always happened when he took her to town. She found one book she liked and that was all she wrote. She grabbed it and sat on the ground and started reading it; he waited nearly 20 minutes for her thinking that she would like the book and just buy it. But she wouldn't put it down. Finally, he asked her what she was doing, and she told him that she would be a while that he could go and attend to his business. He came back nearly six hours later, and she was still in the same spot, only now she had a stack of books going and the shop keeper was getting more for her; the shop keeper it seems had sat in the floor with her to go through the books and help her with translations as well…they had become good friends. The shop keeper even fixed her some of the native style of coffee and a bit of a snack that they shared while they read. Alecta had bought the entire stack of books that she had gone through; the bill totaled nearly $400. She gave him, Director David, this particular book because she said something about it had made her think of him….he thought she said something about the main character in it being a lot like him.

Alecta began to stir a bit, mumbling in her sleep, beginning to thrash about.

Eli jumped up from his seat, placing his book open side down on the seat he just vacated, and went to her beside.

Running his hands through her hair, raking some of it away from her face, he spoke to her in a whisper, 'Chaverati ha-yekarah, leil menucha." He stepped into the private restroom that was part of her hospital room and found a wash rag and wet it with some cool water; ringing it out until it was just a little damp he went back to her and folded it into thirds long ways and put it to her forehead. When Eli had been raking his fingers through her hair, he noticed that her forehead felt a little damp and maybe just a little on the warm side. It was possible that she had a slight fever.

Instead of leaving the room, he merely pressed the nurse on call button. In a short two to three minutes the young female nurse that had directed him to this room had come in to see what was needed.

"Young lady, my…niece, I think she is unwell. I believe she may be having a fever, I would like you to check if you can."

"Of course, sir." Immediately she grabbed the digital thermometer that the hospital used and placed a clean end on the wand before sticking it in Alecta's mouth. Alecta never actually woke up for any of this.

In a matter of seconds there was a reading, 'Sir, it looks as though you were right. It seems that she has a fever of 102°, thank you for calling me. I will alert the doctor immediately. It's likely just a touch of infection, but we can never be too careful."

With that the young nurse left quickly to return to the nurse's station and call for the doctor to come to Alecta's room. The nurse met the doctor in there quickly to let him now the situation. Director David stepped out, going back down the hall to the waiting room to wake Agents Hotchner and Rossi.

They came awake rather easily, if not suddenly, feeling somebody shaking each of their shoulders.

"Pardon, but I thought that you might like to know that the doctor is in with our young friend. It seems as though she has a touch of fever. I have stepped out here to tell you and give the doctor room to think. Apparently, sometimes I can be over-bearing….At least that's what my daughter has told me." Director David smiled ruefully at the two men.

Hotch reached his right hand back to rub the kinks out of his neck, while Rossi settled on popping his a bit to realign himself.

"Thank you Director David, for letting us know what was going on; the doctor chased us out a bit ago to see that she got a little peace and quiet. Rossi and I had been talking over some things and I suppose he was worried we would keep her up."

"Not a problem. She is one of my dearest friends; anyone who upsets her becomes trapped in my cross hairs. It just so happens I have a long reach." Eli winked at them. And the two agents knew in that moment that Director David would not hesitate to use the force of Mossad to annihilate anyone that dared to lay a finger on Alecta. It was evidenced in the way he sent his own daughter-one of his most highly trained assassins-to deal with Jake, Alecta's father. Apparently, Eli David's care for Alecta new no bounds, and if he had been in the vicinity he would likely have taken the shot himself.

"I do want to mention that I believe she had a nightmare. I don't know what just happened this day, but I wanted to make you aware so you could prepare for the coming days. I should be going. The doctor will come out soon and…."

"No, Director…forgive me. But she would be terribly upset if she wakes up to learn that you were here and she missed you. Please stay, at least for a little while.' Hotch paused, 'It might do her good to see you, since, as you say, you are such dear friends."

"Very well. I had cleared my schedule for the next couple of days anyway but was unsure of how you may want things to be. But, I will stay."

The doctor did come out and update the men on the situation. As Director David had said, she had quite a fever. The doctor mentioned that, while he was in there, he checked her stitches and dressings to make sure that everything was in order; none of her stitches ripped again, thus far.

"If you like you can go back in. Just try to keep it quiet in there; she needs all the rest she can get."

"Yes. Of course doctor." Rossi quickly replied before Hotch shelled on him. With that the three men walked back into the room.

Alecta was back to sleep, cuddled up under her blanket that Director David had brought; Rossi looked at him funny.

"What? My dearest is cold natured. She is always at the bazaars and shops in Israel and buys a lot of their textiles…she loves the colors and patterns….you should see the damage she can do with unlimited funds. And the 'grandmothers' made this for her, they made it weeks ago."

"The 'grandmothers'?"

"Yes. There are some elderly women that run one of her favorite shops there. She always makes a point to go to visit them. She loves them so very much; and she spends hours on end in their shop talking and eating and making friends. And they miss her. I get scolded all the time by them that I have not brought her back to them. They will likely feed her too much the next time she does go; they always complain that she has gotten too thin since they last saw her…this time I would be inclined to agree with them. Although her favorite…she was a relic…this woman was about 98, just passed away a few days ago. She added this bit here.' Eli pointed to a bit of fabric with a lovely design on it in shades of turquoise, white and brown. "I will wait to tell her when she is better…the dearest has enough problems already. And, anyway, what has happened that I get warnings from my…colleagues…that she is in danger?"

Hotch answered him, 'Well we came out here for a birthday celebration for an old friend of hers…"

"Yes, Mr. Dan'el. She has always spoken of him fondly. I feel as though I know him without ever having met him."

"Yes. Well, her father and his friends became increasingly volatile to the point that they abducted both Alecta and our technical analyst, Penelope Garcia."

"Pen and Alecta are good friends." Rossi mentioned by way of an explanation.

"Yes. I know. I've met Miss Garcia. She's quite an unusual person. I was shocked that Alecta had made her one of the Agnes's until she told me how good she was with computers and how that could provide the association with a certain level of security….that and their past history together. I think that tied them together more than anything.

So Jake couldn't keep his hands of her. I expected as much."

"Well it seems that Jake kidnapped Alecta and then handed her off to a friend of his. This friend kidnapped Garcia and traded her for Alecta."

"Yes, I know of this….arrangement."

"Well would you care to enlighten us? We've been trying to get to the bottom of it for a while now." Rossi was getting exasperated.

"Well….I don't know that I should. She can be a dangerous woman to know."

"And you are director of Mossad; makes you sort of even in our books." Rossi glanced at him nonchalantly.

"Very well. I suppose my supporters can locate my body if necessary. Years ago, Jake began to sell her to his friends. Sometimes he wanted them to do him specific favors; depending on what that favor was, they wanted her in trade. It wasn't beneath him. That is the kind of animal he was. This _friend_ of his, the man that you know as Lucky, paid thousands of dollars for her; as if Neshama was a used car. If, in the grand scheme of things, people were still seen as physical property, Lucky would have become her owner. After that anyone would have had to consult him about anything they wanted to do to her or with her. If we lived in that sort of world where this transaction was legally recognized, she would have had to obtain his permission to even have a job or moved away.

That is why they traded. Financially speaking, Neshama belonged to this bastard; she was a slave to him in most every sense of the word. Even her own father stopped recognizing her as his own child. He had never been kind to her, but for a while she had been his little darling….his little princess...Even in the worst of times she had that to count on, and then that was taken away, too.

It's why she has found it hard to stay close to anybody. Yes, she married Yuri; and she loved him. But at the time she was a detective, he was three steps away from being involved in Russian mob activities. They had to live separate lives. She always said it was safer that way and, maybe it was. But it was also damned convenient. She didn't have to worry about him pulling the rug out from under her at any given time."

Hotch had heard enough. He could understand quite well why she had chosen not to tell him a lot of what went down. She probably didn't want to think of what his reaction would to knowing that a woman he said 'I Love You' to had been bought and sold like furniture. And she would have been right, in a way. He wouldn't have changed his mind about her at all. He loved her, point blank; nothing was going to change that. But he would have gone on a head hunting expedition. Jake and his little friends would have died a painful and violent death long before this.

Hotch made it to Alecta's room and sat down in the chair next to her bed. He watched her sleep. He couldn't get over how young she looked. After everything she still looked young enough to pass for a high school student. He grabbed her left hand, curling it into his, pulling it closer to him as he laid his head down on the side of the bed and waited for her to wake up.

**Post AN: Tzofiya is a Hebrew girls name; meaning is 'Guardian'. Neshama is either Hebrew or Yiddish, I was unclear about that in some of my research…but I'm pretty sure it's Hebrew, it means 'Soul' or 'my soul'.**


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: Ok, so this is Chpt 12. Hopefully it turned out as well as I hoped. **

After Hotch, Rossi, and Director David had come back into Alecta's hospital room Hotch had taken a seat in the chair that was next to her bed. He pulled it as close as he could and still be comfortable; he took her left hand into his, pulling it as close to him as he could without jostling her too much. He had only intended to shut his eyes for a moment or two; but as soon as his eyes shut, he was back asleep, hard.

Although the group hadn't done much in the days leading up to the attacks by Jake and his merry band of losers, the last 18-24 hours had been nerve wracking and Hotch was mentally and emotionally tired. The nurse had brought in a couple extra blankets in case anyone needed one. It seemed to her that these men weren't moving anytime soon. A cot had been brought in just on the off chance that anyone else decided to bunk up. Rossi took one of the spare blankets and draped it over Hotch's shoulders to ward off any chill. Hotch didn't even make a move, he was out cold.

Over time, exhaustion began claiming Rossi as well; he could barely keep his eyes open.

"Go old man, take the cot. I will stay here in the chair. I haven't had the excitement that you have had today; I'm not as worn out. I can take the first watch. Just get some rest." Eli's thick accent was reassuring. Rossi took him up on it and stretched out on this cot; while it wasn't the most comfortable piece of furniture on earth, it was better than another chair.

For about two hours, all was calm. Eli was reading his book, Rossi was planning his next one as he slept peacefully on the cot, Hotch was practically drooling out of one side of his mouth onto the edge of the bed as he slept with Alecta's left hand still being held by his.

Suddenly, Alecta sat straight up in the bed, soaked in a cold sweat, screaming. All three men jumped up from their stations, Rossi nearly tumbling off of the cot he turned over so fast.

"Ah!" Alecta practically yelled in agony as she sat up, forgetting momentarily about her stitches and injuries.

Hotch put his hands to her shoulders to try to keep her down, 'Lay back down, you're going to hurt yourself….more."

"I have to get up. Let me up." She kept struggling against him to get up out of the bed.

"You can't just…"

"I. Am. Going. To. Throw. Up. Move."

"Here, take this." Hotch said hopefully handing her the small plastic container they give you to use at your beside for just such a moment.

"Oh honey, this isn't one of those little 'cute girl' moments when I just toss my cookies a little bit. This is full on 'Linda Blair'….Please don't get in my way."

Hotch decided that under the circumstances, seeing that she just wouldn't listen to reason, he might as well help her up; at least that way she was less likely to hurt herself any worse than she already might have.

He got her onto her feet; after helping her take her first three steps, she doubled over, one hand going to her stomach, the other going to her mouth. "I'm not gonna make it,' she managed to get out before clasping her hand back over her mouth tightly.

Hotch scooped her up as easily as possible, which considering the situation wasn't all that easy to do, and raced to the bathroom with her and set her down on her own two feet; next thing he helped her get knelt down close to the commode as he lifted the seat for her.

"Damned kid,' Alecta muttered as she leaned closer to the bowl and started emptying any scrap of food that was left in her stomach. Hotch was standing next to her holding her hair back. Rossi came in carrying a chair for Hotch to sit in while he held her hair. After Rossi came back out of the bathe room, Eli came into the bathroom, having filled a cup with some cold water for her to be able to rinse her mouth out and have something to drink.

"What pain meds do they have me on?"

"Fentanyl, I know that one for sure."

"Oh my God, I think we need an exorcist." Alecta said as she buried her face back in the bowl of the commode as another round of vomiting began.

Rossi came running back into the bathroom carrying a pony tail holder that he found in a bag that Eli had brought with him.

Hotch asked her between all the retching, "What's wrong with Fentanyl?"

"I'm allergic to it I think. I have only had a reaction to it one other time though, and I was pregnant then…or….had been." Hotch wrapped her hair up as much as he could in the elastic that Rossi had passed to him while she was hunched back over the commode yet again.

"Kill me now." Alecta groaned as she rested her arm on the rim of the toilet and then rested her head on top of that.

Eli came to the door of the bathroom to check on her muttering something in his native Hebrew about women having babies for centuries before her…Alecta had really stopped listening as she was face down in the thick of things again.

After throwing up one of her kidneys, she wiped her face on a rag that Hotch had passed her, and smiled at Eli. "You know, this kid is shaping up to be as big a pain in my ass as you are old man. I might have to name it after you."

This started the two of them off in some crazy conversation filled with laughter in Hebrew; laughter at least when Alecta wasn't doubled over the toilet. Alecta asked about the book shop keeper that she had made friends with while she was there. Eli told her how he missed his best customer. Nobody knew it yet, but Eli had brought her a book that he had managed to get from the book seller before he hopped his flight. It was some old dusty thing, it was from Istanbul. The book seller, a man named Adnan, had said that it seems as though this book was from around 1462. It was in the style of Turkish that would have been spoken and written during the Ottoman Empire. After reading the book, Adnan had done some research on his own. According to what he found, 1462 was the year that Vlad Dracula had tried to assassinate Sultan Mehmed II in his famous 'Night Attack'; it lead to Mehmed fleeing Dracula's territory of Wallachia. Eli thought he would wait until a more opportune time to give it to Alecta. Adnan had said that the way he came about it was quite odd; he wouldn't even talk of it openly in the streets. They had gone to a Mosque before the man would utter a thing about the book. He said that a stranger, an Eastern European stranger, had come to his shop, poking around. The stranger wanted to buy several books that he had come across.

_FLASH BACK-_

"_My friend he was buying some books that I had seen our friend reading the last time she visited. I put them to the side so she could finish them if she ever returned. They were locked in a case near my counter. He asked to see them, and so I showed them. I can't explain why, but something told me not to argue with the man. He began to take out money; I told him they weren't for sell. He only replied that everyone has their price. He offered me double what the stack of books was worth. It was at least as much money as She would have given, he seemed to know this. And he passed this book to me. He said he wanted me to give it to her the next time I saw her, that it was a gift from a friend….how does he know her?"_

_END FLASH BACK-_

His friend Adnan had been worried. He described the stranger vaguely. Eli knew the description; anyone who had heard would know it without thinking. The only difference between Adnan's description and the typical representation of the Eastern European stranger was that, Adnan's stranger had shorter hair….it just did brush the collar of his shirt…instead of hanging around his shoulders. Eli knew, as well, why this person was trying to reach out to her. He's the reason she hasn't gone back to Romania in years. If it hadn't been for that Gypsy woman hiding her for two or three days, he would likely have caught up to her. It's part of the reason that she picked the hospital closest to the Hagia Sophia to have her twins, Sofie and Emma; she named Sofie after the church in appreciation of the safety its proximity gave them.

The last thing Alecta needed to worry about now was that _He_ was trying to find her now. Eli hoped that by keeping the book with his things back at his hotel room that it was far enough away that whatever sort of metaphysical Lojack that was on this book would be thrown off. Not to mention the fact that Eli had taken the liberty of wrapping the book in a scarf that had religious iconography on it; that should scramble a few signals. She wasn't strong enough to run right now. And she had children this time. Twenty or 25 years ago, packing a bag and getting the hell out of dodge was a logical option. She could run to any corner of the known world….but with kids. It got harder. And right now, she was not physically able to run far enough fast enough.

These are the worries that occupied Eli David's mind; he told Alecta and the two agents that he was going back to his hotel room for the night, but that he intended to be back tomorrow.

"Eli!" Alecta called quickly from the floor of the bathroom.

"Yes, Tzofiya?"

"Take this,' she flipped a medallion to him. "I know it's not your usual thing, but humor me alright? I have been having bad feelings."

Eli merely nodded, bowing to her before he left. He placed the medallion in his pants pocket. It was a Gypsy medallion, one of the ones that she received from that old woman. _Did she suspect? Surely she had no idea…perhaps she was just nervous with all the things that have been happening lately._ With that Eli took his leave gathering his coat and briefcase.

"What was that all about doll face?" Rossi seemed spooked.

"Just my gut telling me that something isn't quite right. Eli had a look in his eye. There was something…he looked sort of guilty, like he was hiding something from me. I guess he thinks I have enough to deal with just now so he didn't want to tell me. But something's not right. When I asked him about our friend, Adnan, he seemed to be startled that I would bring him up. Everybody in Israel knows how much I adore Adnan, including the director."

"Well, if he didn't tell you he must have thought he had a good reason. Just focus on getting better right now."

"Aye aye cap'n." With that Alecta leaned back over the toilet and tossed another load of cookies down the drain. A nurse came in to do another check on Lex and found her sitting in the floor, now on a pillow that Hotch had gotten for her to keep her from having to sit on the cold floor.

"What's going on here?" the young woman asked quietly.

"It seems that the baby doesn't like Fentanyl _at all_."

"Hmmm…I will let the doctor know about this and see what he might be able to change it to. Are there any medications that you are allergic to normally?" The nurse knew it seemed odd asking Alecta this now, but she had been virtually unconscious earlier, and there wasn't really anyone around that knew for sure.

"None that I'm aware of. I usually don't take a lot of medication anyway. So, I don't really know."

The nurse left to find the doctor as Alecta turned her attention back to the toilet.

"Remind me to never do this again."

"Which part? Get caught in a burning house, having wings carved into your back…"

"This whole getting pregnant thing. The next time I decide I want a kid….there has to be an easier way."

The sickness went on for another three hours non-stop. When she wasn't tossing cookies, she was having something smart to say about being in this position. Hotch and Rossi saw it all for what it was…a coping mechanism.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, she seemed like the bout of sickness was over. She was just asleep, resting her head on her arms which were folded across the edge of the toilet bowl. Hotch carefully picked her up, trying his best not to wake her. If he woke her would she be able to go back to sleep, or would she be sick again? It was a coin toss.

The doctor came in with a different sort of pain medication, 'I would have brought it sooner, but we had to wait until it was time for another dose."

"Well, now she's asleep, we don't want to wake her."

"No, of course not. I'll just set them here, off to the side. When she wakes up, one of you can see if you can get her to take them."

"Thank you doctor."

After speaking to the two agents a little more about what to possibly expect over the coming hours, the doctor made his exit.

Making sure that she was really out of it, Rossi turned to Hotch, 'When are we going to tell her about….?"

"Cinnamon and Moira?"

"Yeah."

Hotch pinched the bridge of his nose, in the area where the corners of his eyes met it, 'I don't know for sure. I want to wait until I know she's physically able to handle the strain. It'll hit her hard enough emotionally, she doesn't need to be hurting so bad that she can't cope with that. Besides, it's likely she already knows. She was there ya know."

"Yeah. I know."

**Post AN: I may have ended it in an awkward fashion, but it seemed like a decent place to wrap this chapter up…didn't want to force it to go on if it didn't want to, didn't want it to come out too contrived…I know there may have been some spots that were pushing that as it was….hope all of you like it. Thanx.**


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: So here goes chapter 13. When I started writing it I was in one of the foulest moods I've been in in a while, I'm sure you'll be able to tell. I decided since I could get 25-life the other way, that this was the easiest way to get rid of the 'Grumpies'. Hope you like it.**

_**Tea & Theatre**__-The Who_

Will you have some tea  
At the theatre with me?  
We did it all - didn't we?  
Jumped every wall – instinctively  
Unraveled codes – ingeniously  
Wired all the roads - so seamlessly

We made it work  
But one of us failed  
That makes it so sad  
A great dream derailed

One of us gone  
One of us mad  
One of us, me  
All of us sad

All of us sad - lean on my shoulder now  
The story is done - it's getting colder now  
A thousand songs - still smolder now  
We played them as one - we're older now

All of us sad  
All of us free  
Before we walk from the stage  
Two of us  
Will you have some tea?  
Will you have some tea  
At the theatre with me?

Alecta jerked awake suddenly. _Just a nightmare….Just a nightmare. Daddy's dead. They're all dead._ She tried so hard to reassure herself. _They're __**all**__ dead…_while that thought ran through her mind yet again, she carefully managed to slip out of the bed. She had to get her land legs back. She had been getting carried around a lot lately. She hadn't been carried around so damned much since she was a child and she didn't really care for it most of the time. The need to be carried around made her feel weak and insignificant. Alecta had prided herself on her self-reliance over the years. She had made it a point to never really **need** anybody for anything. She didn't like people putting their hands all over her for any reason. For the most part, she loathed being touched. She didn't even really like being hugged, truth be told, but she over looked that for the most part, because she didn't want to seem…bitchy and cold to everyone else around her.

Sliding down out of the bed, she noticed that Hotch and Rossi were dozing; Rossi was beginning to snore a bit. Alecta couldn't help the slight chuckle that escaped at the thought. She loved that old man dearly, about as much as Eli and Dr. Mallard. They were her 'old fart tri-fecta'; the three old men that she just could not live without in her little world. They each had a special place in her heart. And she loved Gibbs' father as well, being that he was family and all. But, her favorite three…she loved them just because they were them; it was hard for her to really choose a favorite.

She looked around some more and saw that Hotch had crapped out in the knock off recliner that was in the room. As carefully as she could she made her way out of the room after ripping out her IV needle and making sure she was clear of the wires….lucky for her she knew her way around some of the equipment in the hospital room. She knew what some of the switches were for and could fake it long enough to be down the hall and in the elevator before anyone knew she was gone; never mind how she came by this knowledge. She had been in the hospital enough over the years to pick up a little something.

Slowly she made her way down the hall, holding onto the railing that lined the walls. She was unsteady on her feet. She was in a moderate amount of pain….ok, if she had to tell the truth, on the scale of 1-10 (1=ouch, 10=kill me now) she was more like an 8 or 9.

Making it to the elevator finally, Alecta quickly mashed the button that would lead her to the floor that the morgue was on. She had to see for herself the fallout that was brought down that day.

She carefully entered the morgue, looking around. The attendant asked her if she needed help.

"My fath….Jake King. He was dropped off earlier. I need to see his…Is he really dead?"

"And you are?"

"I was his daughter for a while."

"Oh yes. You're upstairs currently."

Alecta nodded. Without making things worse for her, the attendant showed her to the drawer containing Jake's body. Before the man pulled the sheet back from the head and shoulders, Alecta shut her eyes, taking a deep breath, holding it, and then letting it out…she had to mentally prepare herself for this.

The attendant pulled the sheet back, 'When you're ready…."

Alecta merely nodded, the attendant stepped back a few steps to give her a moment. Alecta opened her eyes slowly…she didn't want to be afraid that Jake would somehow jump down off of his slab and for this to all be a joke. She had prayed and begged for years for all of her suffering to be over. If he was to sit up and speak to her now, she would have completely come apart.

When she opened her eyes, Jake was still resting on his slab. His skin was a strange shade of blue. His eyes were closed. The thing that Alecta noticed the most, and it unnerved her more than anything on earth, was the quiet; that and the lack of aroma of cheap booze and stale cigarettes.

"Are you sure this is him?"

"Quite sure, yes ma'am."

"I'm sorry to doubt you. It's just that, for all my life, I've never heard silence from him. He was always yelling or screaming at me and momma. And he doesn't reek of booze and cigarettes. I've never been around him when he smelled like anything but an ashtray."

The attendant watched as Alecta looked over her dead father's body with sadness in her eyes.

"You know. I thought I would feel so much better when this was all over, when he was dead. I thought that _finally_ I could have some peace, that somehow…." She struggled to find the right thoughts…"but, I don't feel better. I can't swear that I feel anything at all. For all the bad he did in the world…and trust me, there was plenty of that to go around…he was my daddy once upon a time. And I was his little princess. And I don't know what happened or what I did wrong….but he hated me so much." She became choked by tears and for a few moments couldn't go on.

The attendant could see tears running down her cheeks, some of them falling onto her father's face as she leaned over to kiss him on the forehead. "I don't want to spend the rest of my life with these feelings. I've spent enough time with them. I have to bury them with him, and forget them."

After another minute or two, she gathered herself together and turned to the attendant, 'there were two young women about my age, around 40 or so, brought in around the same time….they were two of my very dear friends. May I see them?"

The attendant showed her to the area that they had been placed after shutting her father's body back up in his drawer; he passed her a stool to sit on between the two slabs that were side by side; he had noticed that she was starting to waiver a bit, she was getting tired and worn out from her journey from upstairs. As he stepped back, he noticed that her back was bleeding.

"Ma'am, I'm going to my desk to do some work, and give you a bit of privacy. If you need something please, let me know."

Alecta only nodded. She was too consumed with her own thoughts to say anything.

The young attendant went to his desk and picked up the phone, he placed a call to the nurse's station on the floor that Alecta had come from. A nurse Jenkins answered the phone. The attendant relayed the information about the patient, Alecta, and told her to send someone down to collect her…that she was in some really bad pain and that he thought her stitches needed to be checked.

While Alecta sat there mulling over her thoughts about the death of her two best friends in the world, Hotch made his way down to the morgue. He and Rossi had just been wondering about how she would take this news. Apparently she remembered everything that happened; at least they would have their answer.

As Hotch came through the door to the morgue he showed his badge to the attendant as he quietly let him know he was here for Alecta. The attendant pointed in the direction that he needed to go.

Hotch stepped closer to where Alecta sat; he could hear her sniffling, a lot. He was trying to get it together in his head what he was going to say to her to make it better.

"Ya know, I never intended for this to happen. I never wanted this."

Hotch almost jumped out of his skin, 'How did you know I was here?"

"One of the tricks I learned when I was, um, under cover. One of Mengele's favorite forms of torture was to blind me. But I grew adept at using my other senses…hearing, smell, etc. to tell when someone was close by. Your after shave gave you away."

"So you have been paying attention."

"Pft. Well yeah, just because I have not confirmed or denied any feelings I might have for you doesn't mean that I haven't noticed you. I have, noticed you, a lot; at least as much as you've noticed me."

She sniffled again, 'my dear sweet girls. "

She started to bawl her eyes out in earnest. "It was never meant to happen this way. They weren't supposed to be hurt, not even a scratch. I loved them best, above all others. They were the best friends I ever had. I was a terrified 15 year old girl when I met them.

After Lady Heather, Moira and Cinnamon were the first two people that I met and became friends with. I remember thinking at first that I needed to stay away from these kind of women, that this was a sick life style they were in; you know how it is.

But they…they helped me once; in truth, so very many times. Apparently I looked like easy pickings to some of the clients at the dungeon. I guess that anyone that's barely above 5ft tall and 115-120lbs doesn't seem like much of a challenge.

Moira was born in Ireland…County Antrim, in a little tiny village called Ballynure. As of 2001, it had less than 700 people in it. I think our fathers were separated at birth. Moira's daddy was the stereotypical drunk Irishman. I never met the man, but I have seen one or two pictures of him. Like my father, he was a handsome man, in his way. Her daddy had strawberry blonde hair, maybe slightly darker, heading towards auburn. He had her green eyes. She got her black hair from her mother. He was a handsome devil that's for sure. A handsome package crammed full of horrible demons. The family came to America trying to find a better life; they had been quite poor back home in Ireland. Things went from bad to worse for them. The American dream turned out to be not what they were given. Her father's drinking and beating became worse….money troubles were worse than ever. Moira ran away from home when she wasn't much older than I was at the time. She was about 17. She said that the last she had heard about her family was that two of her sisters had run away as well, not long after her. Her three brothers were doing time, and that her father had been gunned down in a drunken dispute with some friends of his. Shortly after that, she said her mother returned to her own parents and relatives in Ireland; she had no idea what had become of her daughters. Eventually, Moira did write to her grandparents and asked after her mother and received a letter back with a photo…her mother was alive and well, and was so glad to hear from her. Be that as it may, Moira was never able to go back home."

The sobbing got worse…"And now, I have to send my dearest girl back to her mother in a little box. It doesn't seem quite right. This will never sit right with me. I don't care if I can give up the rest of my regrets….this…this will last me the rest of my life."

Taking a minute, "I didn't know a lot about Cinnamon. The most she ever talked about her life from before was during the nightmares that she had. I don't think she ever knew her biological parents. She was in the foster care system as far back as she could remember. She grew up understanding that nobody had ever really wanted her…that's what she believed. She aged out of foster care. She had a few families that would take her for short periods of time, never more than a few months at a time, each one was worse than the one before. You've heard the horror stories…this was her life.

My darling, darling girls….my dearest sisters. They had my back a few times, many times. The three of us so much alike…..they were the constants. They guarded the citadel that we had built out west. They ran it. They had never traveled to these far flung places….we needed someone to stay on the home front and keep the girls safe that we were able to free from the traffickers and general bad situations. They were the sentinels, everyone knew of them.

They did what they were supposed to do. They didn't give those men the information they wanted. They are busy now taking it to their graves."

When Alecta turned her eyes up to Hotch, he wasn't sure he'd ever seen so many tears streaking down one face, with more on stand-by.

"They deserved so much better than what they got Aaron."

He began to notice how run down she suddenly seemed; her posture beaten down more than he'd ever seen it.

"I can't do this anymore. In a matter of weeks I have lost three of the people that meant the most to me. I have failed them. What happens if I fail again? I'm getting too old for this. I've buried a few of our people over the years, but it was never like this. It never hurt this bad. Sometimes I wonder just how much good I am doing…Am I doing as much or more harm than good?"

"We have to get you back upstairs. You're going to feel pretty shitty if you don't get some rest soon."

Alecta nodded her head as she turned her gaze to Hotch. Looking into her eyes, Hotch realized something was terribly wrong. Her eyes were empty, _**no**_ emotion in them. There was always something there, even if it was a weariness or anger, there was always emotion in her eyes…but there was nothing. Suddenly, he noticed how her body began jerking. _She's having a seizure!_ Hotch ran over and grabbed her and pulled her off of the stool, laying her on the floor.

"Help. Over here, help us."

The attendant came running again, cell phone in hand. He saw what was happening and began calling for help. All they could really do was turn her on her side to keep her from swallowing her tongue and hold her as still as possible. In a matter of minutes the doctor came running with a nurse and a couple of orderlies. As the orderlies were helping the nurse get Alecta onto a back board and secured onto it, the doctor was checking the dilation of her eyes and her heart beat. The heart beat was erratic and her pupils were quite dilated.

"We have to get her back upstairs, NOW." Turning to the nurse, 'Get the wraps ready. We have to get this damned fever down immediately."

The nurse ran ahead to get started on her task.

As they arrived upstairs on the fifth floor, where Alecta's room was, Hotch was met by Rossi, 'What the hell is going on?"

"I don't know; one minute she was fine and the next…she had a seizure." Hotch kept walking, Rossi falling in beside him. Kevin came running down the hall with his mother and Mrs. King right on his heels.

"What the hell?"

"Kevin, I don't know yet. The doctor will let us know what's going on soon…I hope."

It took about 30 minutes before the doctor was able to give them any kind of update.

"Her fever has risen. It was 102° earlier, and according to readings from the monitors, it had dropped to around 100°. But it seems as though it has shot back up. Currently it is at 104°, which is what caused the seizure. At 105° we have to worry about things such as coma and brain death. We have wrapped her in cold wraps to try to bring the temperature down as quickly as possible. If not for the pregnancy we could have put her in an ice bath…"

"Good luck with that. Fever or no, my girl woulda clawed your entire face off." Kevin said from his spot, leaning against the wall, arms crossed across his chest.

"Indeed she would have doctor. I would have hated to see the left overs." Mrs. King chirped. "My daughter has always been quite cold natured. She doesn't care for it at all. When she was a little girl and had Scarlett fever, we had to put her in an ice bath. I still have two scars going down my arms from where she tried to keep me from putting her in it."

"At any rate, we will have to keep a careful watch on her for the next couple of hours. If we aren't able to get control of her fever soon she will have another seizure."

Hotch was pacing up and down the hall once the doctor left to make his rounds. Kevin called Victor who was currently at the house watching out for his dad, he had to tell him what was going on with Alecta.

"I'm bringing the old man up there…"

"No, don't. He won't be able to do very much anyway except sit around and wait…that's all we're doing. And right now he needs to rest as much as anyone."

"Fine, but if he threatens to break my legs, I'm bringing him up there, and you can deal with his mangy old ass."

"Thank you Victor."

As Kevin hung up the phone he could hear Rossi's exasperated voice as he spoke to Hotch.

"What the…' trying to lower his voice out of respect for the fact that they were in the hospital, 'What the hell was she doing down in the morgue? How did she make it that far?"

"I don't know how she did it. But as far as why…saying good bye to some old ghosts I guess."

"She shouldn't have been able to be out of bed."

"That's Lex for ya." Kevin spoke up, seeing the looks on their faces. "She was probably a 9 on the pain Richter scale; she has let one of ya carry her around without too much argument. But, to go down there, to make sure Jake is really dead and to see her girls…she would have done it twice if she had to. She had to wait 'til ya'll were asleep before she went, or else you would never have let her go."

"You're damned right. Would you have?"

"No. And we would be having this exact same argument. If ya'll want you can head back to the house for a couple of hours and get cleaned up and get some rest…"

"I'm not leaving,' Hotch stated matter of factly before Kevin ever finished his sentence. 'There is a shower in the bathroom that connects to her room. If I have to I can use it."

"Of course you'd say that. That's why we brought a bag for you." Mrs. King handed over the bag of items for him. It was pretty basic; a change of clothes, tooth brush/tooth paste, a comb.

"I'm staying with Alecta right now myself." Mrs. King made it known that she wasn't budging. "Every time I leave my baby alone something bad happens to her….or something worse than bad I should say…."

"Well, I'll sit with you…"

"You should go back to the house Rossi….I'll be fine here for a while. I know…"

"I'm not leaving until you do."

"Well then I hope that you liked the cot, it will be your best friend for a while." Mrs. King said assuredly.

"Lady I was a Marine. I could sleep on the floor if I had no other choice."

"Yes, but you are also a wealthy author. Rich old men aren't usually accustomed to sleeping on floors."

"Oh so now you're calling me old?"

"Indeed."

"Come on you. We have to go check on your daughter." Rossi put a hand to the middle of Mrs. King's back as he guided her into Alecta's room with a slight chuckle.

Meanwhile, back at the Eason's house, Victor had been keeping a lid on the old man, if just barely.

Morgan had been keeping an eye on Garcia; she hadn't eaten since they got home. She tried to pass it off as being too worried about Alecta to eat a thing, which might be true, but Morgan would feel a heck of a sight better if she would just talk to him.

"I'm going to go take a shower,' she said jumping up again after he just tried once more to get her to eat a little something. It was the fifth shower she'd taken in just about eight hours. She would wash herself until her skin was a bright red from scrubbing. She still hadn't told him any of what happened.

Morgan hadn't take her back up to the hospital because she hadn't really rested, and she hadn't eaten; he was trying to save her from getting all worked up being back in that environment, although it looked a bit like he was failing miserably.

It was along about 12am, everyone was starting to finally settle in for bed that night. The bed in the room that Morgan and Garcia were sharing was positioned much like some of the other beds on this side of the house; it was settled in front of a large array of bay windows. There was a nightstand on either side. Garcia had stayed up there after her last shower and not bothered to come back down. Morgan finally decided to go on up; he was so tired. The last time that he could remember feeling this run down was around the time she was shot, well just after that. After Battle was killed, all of the adrenaline had drained from his body, and he was on fumes.

As he walked through the bedroom door, he saw Garcia lying in the bed on her left side. Her left hand was under her head; her right hand was under her pillow. She was still awake; her eyes were focused on the door. Derek wasn't sure what to do for her. When they were still at the hospital, Pen had gone to the restroom before they were all about to leave. Telling the doctor that he was listed as Penelope's next of kin and was also her fiancée he talked the doctor into telling him what had happened to his Baby Girl. It was as bad as he thought, she had been raped. Although, due to patient confidentiality that was really all the doctor was at liberty to tell him. As far as specifics are concerned, Morgan was going to have to wait for her to tell him.

Derek changed clothes; he usually slept in little more than boxers. But, after what happened today, he wasn't sure about how comfortable Pen would be. He decided to put on a pair of sweat pants over his boxers, and at least a tank top. From there Pen would have to let him know what she needed from him…he'd wear a parka in July if she told him to. He carefully crawled into bed behind her, he intended to just drape an arm across her, not trying to really wrap around her in case she was in no mood for that. As soon as his form hit the mattress Pen turned over and threw her arms around him and buried her face into his shirt covered chest. With that being her decision, Derek then just wrapped his arms around her tightly, resting his chin on top of her head. It seemed like no time at all and they were both out cold, Pen having turned her face out a little to keep from smothering herself with Derek's chest….although…nah, bad timing.

With that last thought, Garcia tried to shut off her mind a bit and get some sleep; if she hadn't been so upset over the day's events and so shaken by what had happened, she would have chuckled at her own thoughts. But she just couldn't bring herself to do that. That night it took Penelope and Derek less than 10 minutes to fall completely asleep. Normally, they sat up and talked a bit until they dozed off, but tonight, Pen wasn't in the mood to talk. She had to make sense of things in her own mind a bit before she just let it all out. Derek didn't push her. He knew how she could be. If he pushed her too hard to speak up, she would clam up even worse and it would take twice as much effort to get her to talk later. He would have to wait her out. Maybe in the morning everything would be settled enough for her to start talking; a man had to have some hopes.

At 3:30 in the morning in a hospital room across town, Alecta sat up out of a dead sleep, still feverish, still wrapped like a mummy in some dampened linens that they were trying to use to bring her fever down. As she sat up Lex recognized that she was being restrained somehow, and she didn't care for it. She began to struggle to get lose.

"My dear girl be still, you'll upset your stitches."

"Get me out of this…this straight jacket…"

"Listen to your mother…."

"I have to get out of here, there's a problem…"

"Yeah, I'll say. You had a fever, it spiked up to 104°, and you had a seizure because of it. We need to get the nurse or the doctor to come and see if it's dropped."

"You do that, I have to make a phone call…can I at least get an arm free?"

"What number do you need dialed?"

Alecta looked at Rossi for a moment, worried. The number she needed dialed was a foreign number. It belonged to a friend that worked for her _other_ team. Nobody outside of the two organizations had these numbers. There were private cell numbers for all of the members of the 'executive' order….meaning, the 'Immortals', some of the people who guarded the compounds that were all around the world….some of the 'Georges' had them as well. One of these numbers had never been given out to someone from the outside before. She knew she could trust Rossi, of that she had no doubt. But what would the others say?

"Really? Can't we just free one of my arms?"

"What's the number?"

"Fine!" Alecta called out the number, Rossi placed it to her ear, and Alecta leaned her ear to her shoulder in an attempt to keep the phone up to her ear on her own. Rossi backed up a few steps to give her time.

By the time whoever was on the other end of the phone answered, Alecta began speaking at a rapid fire pace.

"What the hell is she saying?"

"No idea,' Rossi commented to Mrs. King.

After a few moments of speaking to the unknown caller it seemed as if Lex barked orders at them. The call was ended as abruptly as it came to life; she winked at Rossi so he'd know he could come and get his phone back.

"Call for the doctor. I have to get out of this damned bed and it has to happen right now."

"Stitches." Kevin warned her.

"Fever.' Her mother, ever the voice of reason.

"Boss man? Make 'em get me out of this. I have to go, I have to go now."

Alecta was laying it on thick. She was using her big brown, doe eyes, batting them at him; as if she was the most innocent person to ever walk the earth.

"Where are you going? And, what will you be getting up to?"

"Oh Hotch, don't be so…."

"A minute ago I was the boss man."

"Yeah, so."

"And as your boss man, it's my duty that you stay put, until the doctor _tells you_ it's time to leave."

"But…"she was going to go for broke, pulling out the big guns. Kevin knew from experience…_Tears would be next._

"Don't cave in, man. She's trying to wear you down." Kevin leaned in to whisper into Hotch's ear.

"You shut up. There were problems. I have to get back to Quantico. I have to go back tonight. These damned wraps have to come off." Alecta was getting very frustrated and pissed off right about now.

Noticing that if she kept getting wound up things could get worse, Kevin changed tactics, "What happened?"

Alecta looked sincerely troubled. "There was a bombing. In Marrakesh, near the Koutoubia Mosque…."

Alecta seemed at a loss for words to describe it. "The Mosque is still in-tact, mostly. The only thing that was damaged to any great extent was this old abandoned place. It used to be a royal residence for some of the minor nobility. It hasn't been used _officially_ in close to 200 years. The whole area was getting shelled on, some uprising I don't know. There's no telling what started it. It just so happened that the 'Palace' as we all called it was in the path of destruction. We were using it as one of our bases over there.

Some of the young people we've saved from the trafficking world and just horrible circumstances in general were killed in the blast or by debris. They have made arrangements for the survivors to be brought to Quantico."

After a brief pause, during which she took a deep breath, "I don't even know where they are going to go. Since our place in Quantico was basically destroyed….Now! Get me out of here."

Mrs. King, knowing how stubborn her daughter could be (a family trait to be sure) had run, several minutes ago, to the nurse's station to let them know that Alecta would not be talked down and that the doctor needed to come and try to calm her down and either get her to see reason or expedite her release forms.

By the time that Mrs. King got back, a nurse and the doctor were right behind her.

"What is this that I hear about you wanting to be released already?"

"I didn't stutter."

"Less than 18 hours ago you had a fever induced seizure; we weren't even sure what sort of condition you'd been in after that, and now you are up demanding release?"

"Um. Yes." Turning to Rossi, 'Am I speaking a foreign language? I have to get out now."

"Let me check you over before we make any snap decisions."

"Sign the damned papers or the last thing that's going to snap will be your neck."

"I would be remiss in my duties as a licensed physician if I just turned you lose without at least seeing to your condition first."

"Which nurse is your favorite? She'll go last."

"And besides, you're still wrapped in those linens."

"You'd be surprised what I can kill you with when I am motivated. And today is a code red sort of day. Please don't make me repeat myself. I'm not a patient woman on the best of days, and today isn't shaping up to be that great."

"Compromise, this young lady will check you over and I will get the paper work together. Will you have any proper medical care if you are released?"

Putting his arm around the doctor's shoulders and walking with him out of the room, Kevin was trying his best to keep the man from being severely injured, "You saw what she did with the scalpel right? I'm just thinking you should worry about your personal safety just this once. If 'momma' gets angry, there is a huge mountain of a man that makes me look like a flea. He will pop out of the wood work around here somewhere and squeeze your head like a grape, pick his teeth with your ribs, and belch up your stethoscope. Get the papers ready to sign."

Upon returning to the room to see what he could manage to do, Kevin hears Alecta ordering the nurse to hurry; as he came around the door way Rossi's phone rang.

"Who are you and how did you get this number?" Rossi waited for a reply. "Oh. Yes, she's threatening bodily harm to be released immediately. Yes that was a concern of hers of course. I'll tell her. Not a problem."

"Who was that 'pops'?"

"Uh, do I want to know how Kong got my Bureau issued number?"

"No. What did he have to say?"

"That you're covered on a place to send the kids. As soon as there was even knowledge of the coming attack they managed to acquire an emergency shelter. He said that everything is up and running, security is in place. The usual business he said."

"Allah ar rahman." Was all she said to the air as she looked to the ceiling.

**Post AN****: So there's chapter 13; crazy spot to cut it off I know. But if I hadn't done it then there was a distinct likelihood it would have shot to another 20G word chapter before I even knew it. And, just to translate for you, Allah ar rahman translates loosely to 'God Bless You'….to find out who Alecta was blessing, you gotta stick around for the next chapter. Them's the breaks.**


	14. Chapter 14

**AN: So, chapter 13 did pretty well, here comes Chpt 14. At this point, eh, just read it and lemme know whatcha think. **

"**Even if she be not harmed, her heart may fail her in so much and so many horrors; and hereafter she may suffer-both in waking, from her nerves, and in sleep, from her dreams." ( Bram Stoker, Dracula)**

"**Those with the greatest awareness have the greatest nightmares." (Mahatma Gandhi)**

As it turned out, later that day, the doctor was persuaded to let Alecta leave the hospital. Her fever had dropped down to 100°, and had stayed there for several hours. She had stopped moving around so much and gave her stitches a rest. It seemed as though the doctor's attempt at a compromise might have worked after all; it kept him alive, and kept Alecta happy.

And now, here they were, 24 hours later, finally touching down in Quantico. Alecta had been quiet most of the flight, watching her kids. Sasha and Eva had been chatting with Rachel, using the quiet time to finally get to know their sister all over again. Oleg had been talking with Reid about a few things that were of interest to both of them; he was actually quite a bright child, but in the end, few people were as intelligent as Reid. Jazzy was coloring with Henry and Jack. Alecta was, after checking on her other kids, cocked back in her seat with Sofie and Emma sitting in her seat with her. Each one of them was lying on their backs, their heads resting on their mother's chest. It was cute to see how much alike all three were, Alecta and the two children. But it was also difficult. It was difficult for Mrs. King, because up until recently, the last time she saw Alecta, Alecta was the age of her little girls. It was difficult for the team because after all the things they had learned about Alecta, it was hard to picture her being so small and suffering so much.

One of the hardest things for her to do was to leave that house. Alecta had forgotten how much she missed certain things; things like Abigail, Daniel, Dorian…Constance…and little Daphne. Even that spooky old Dead Water Marsh…she'd missed that. The one she missed the most was likely Daniel, Revolutionary Daniel. He'd been by her side off and on over the years. And, as far as Daphne is concerned, knowing her children, they had figured out a way to bring her with them. Chances were good she had attached herself to one of Sofie's dolls and would arrive in Quantico as soon as they did.

As it was, Alecta and the girls were each lazily twirling a strand of hair through their fingers. It wasn't long before Miss Sofie had fallen asleep. Emma had stayed awake, singing quietly, in her sleepy voice 'Five lil speckled frogs, sitting on a speckled log…' and she would give a huge yawn. Emma and Alecta were both murmuring this little counting song, both too sleepy to keep their eyes open, neither one willing to admit it. Before they had managed to get to two speckled frogs, they were both done for.

It had been a short enough flight, compared with some the team had been on, and then the pilot announced they'd be landing soon. Nobody wanted to wake Lex and the girls up, but they had little choice. Her mother, Mrs. King decided to do the dirty work. So, Lex and the girls were soon awake, albeit grudgingly.

It had been determined sometime mid-flight that the kids (all of them) would stay with their sister, Rachel. She had a three bedroom apartment…it would be a snug fit, but they could figure out a way to make it work until Alecta could have time to get her stitches out and get back on her feet a bit. It was way better than sending them off with strangers, and besides, the girls were so happy about spending more time with their big brother.

As they all exited the plane, Rachel and the older kids began loading the family luggage into the SUV that her fiancée had brought to meet them in. Rachel's fiancée, Jeff, was a useful ally as well as wonderful man in general. His parents were in politics, so they knew most of the juicy dirt on anybody that was anybody. Jeff, or Jeffy as everyone called him, had a degree in computers and just so happened to sideline as a hacker. He was nowhere near as good as Pen, but he'd do in a pinch. What his parents couldn't dig up on you, he could. Yes, a good man with a few marketable skills. Rachel thought, as she watched him get the kids loaded into the truck that she may have to keep him around for a while.

Hotch was watching Alecta. She seemed sort of sullen now. Alecta carefully hoisted her messenger bag over her shoulder with a little grunt. She hurt worse than she let on and Hotch knew it.

"Do you need anywhere to stay?"

"No. Thank you anyway. But I have a little place nearby, I'll be fine there."

Alecta waived at everyone as she walked out of sight. The sky was darkening and it looked like rain. She didn't have an umbrella with her, so the best she could do was hug her jacket around her a bit tighter. For it to still be summer there was a nip in the air; seems as though Mother Nature couldn't get her act together.

Hotch decided to follow her….from a distance. He sent Jack home with JJ and Will, he'd love having a sleepover with Henry. It would probably be next to impossible to get those two ready to go back to school at the end of summer.

Getting into his own SUV, Hotch made his way up the street in the general direction that he thought Alecta had gone. She was a quick little devil; she could disappear quickly when it suited her purposes. But he caught up to her, hanging back quite a few feet. After he followed her for the better part of 15 minutes he pulled the truck to the curbside of a building and watched as Alecta went inside.

_MUNICIPAL BUS STATION_? Hotch had to wonder what she was doing coming here. He decided to give her a little time in case he was jumping to conclusions; he sat and he waited. It was going on late in the afternoon, passing into evening. There wasn't that big of a crowd this time of night for the station. Twenty-five minutes later, he hadn't noticed Alecta having ever come out of the bus station, so he made up his mind to go in and get her. Although this was one of the better stations on a nicer end of town, Hotch had no intentions of letting sit here alone for any major length of time. After working the job for so many years, you learn just how evil one human being could be to another. He never wanted to see her wind up like some of the bodies they had seen during a case; he almost shuddered at the thought, and she seemed to have a knack for attracting the criminal element.

It was official. She needed him to come and find her; she just didn't know it yet.

He walked into the station, looking around, he didn't see her. Then his eyes caught sight of something on a bench….it was her messenger bag. He knew she was here, but where? And, had she left the bag there on purpose? Was she coming back? Did someone already take her?

That last question is what made him do it. He walked over to the guy behind the counter, flashed his badge, introduced himself, and asked the man if he knew where the owner of that bag had gone.

"That hot little number…Yeah, she went to the rest room. I can't believe she left that bag there. What if someone took it? She's a bit naïve for doing that, if you ask me. But then again, she seemed like she could take care of herself. Did she do something wrong?"

"No, she's….' what was he going to tell the guy? Should he go with co-worker or girlfriend? Saying co-worker would make this sound lame, and the guy probably wouldn't believe him….Alecta didn't look like an FBI agent; coincidentally that's the same thing they said about Garcia, although for different reasons. If he said she was his girlfriend, the guy would straight up think he was a liar; looking at the differences between himself and Alecta, he would have to give the guy points there.

He began to realize part of what Alecta had told him while they were away, about her doubts that he really loved her. Haley and Beth both had been a bit taller, by nearly six inches….they were both on the thin side; Beth had a better shape than Haley had, but neither one of them had nearly the shape that Alecta had….compared to her, they were both string beans. Although Alecta hadn't seen Hotch picking up any women when they would go out for the odd drink with the group after work, by comparing herself to the two women she knew had been in his life, she saw that she just didn't measure up. At least that's what she thought…and thinking that, she knew that he mustn't really love her.

Oh God, he must look like the typical jerk to her. After following her possible train of thoughts, he realized she must think that he's the typical guy who just wants to have his fun and then be out and gone before anybody knows what happened.

"No, she didn't do anything wrong. She's a friend of mine, she left something of hers in my truck, and I just needed to make sure she got it."

The man smirked at Hotch, nodding, 'She'll be back soon enough."

Hotch didn't say that Alecta left _**him**_ in the truck and that he wasn't leaving this place without her. So, Hotch made his way over to the row of seating where her bag rested against a back wall and waited.

It was only another 10 minutes or so before he heard her southern drawl, 'You're in my bed, move."

"What? You're not sleeping here. I asked you if you needed a place to stay…."

"And I'm fine here."

"Are you insane?! You want to sleep in a public bus station, knowing what we know about the kind of things people are capable of?"

"I can take care of myself."

"Ordinarily, I wouldn't try to argue with you. But you just had a fever of 104°, and you still have stitches…you're not in top form. Not to mention being pregnant. But even on a good day I would never let you stay here. You're coming home with me."

"N-no. What about Jack, he might think it's sort of strange…"

"He's staying over at JJ's tonight, he wanted to keep hanging out with Henry.' Turning around he watched the look on her face go from stubborn to scared. She was worried about being left alone with him? Alecta was going to subject herself to sleeping on a bench in a public bus station, with God only knows what kind of freaks walking around free in the world, but she was afraid to stay with him. It almost didn't even make sense.

"Look, come on, I'm not leaving you here." Hotch grabbed her by the arm with one hand and with his other he grabbed her bag, he was taking her home whether she liked it or not. There was only one way to make her believe that he was a decent man, and that was to prove it. Alecta had tried to dig in her heels, but she was no match for Hotch; he was taller and stronger, she was going with him after all.

Getting out to his truck, he put her in the passenger seat and reached across to buckle her seat belt; by doing so he could sense how tense she was. She was scared of him? She couldn't possibly be. She had flirted with every member of the male population like a pro since the day they met. There wasn't a man left in her presence that didn't want to take her home.

It was starting to seem true, what he had heard Prentiss say one day….Alecta _was_ the female Morgan. Just like Morgan flirted with ever skirt in the vicinity, Alecta had made her way around every man in the room. Morgan had never settled down with any one of his conquest, everybody knew he loved Garcia too damned much for that, Morgan would never have settled down with anyone but her. Alecta had run from her friend Kevin after living the life she had. She had been married twice. One husband had recently left her, and one was now dead, courtesy of Hotch. And if he had to be quite honest with himself, taking that shot was one of the proudest moments in his life….right behind marrying Haley, Jack's birth, and beating Foyet to death….yeah, shooting Fletcher Davis right between the eyes was right up there. And he'd do it again, too, if that had to happen all over again.

The drive to Hotch's apartment was quiet. There were a million things that he wanted to say or to ask, but one glance over to Alecta told him that now was not a good time. She had curled in her seat, hugging the passenger door, with a white knuckle grip on the door handle; she had shut her eyes to make it look like she was asleep, but he knew better. By trying to make Hotch think she's asleep, Alecta hoped to avoid a conversation. Hotch would let it go for now, but once they got to his place and got settled, he had hoped that he would get her to talk. Somehow, he doubted it would work; but he had to try.

Like clockwork, when he stopped, pulling up to his building, Alecta was quite awake; she was staring out of the front windshield, looking out of her passenger window….it was like she was trying to get her bearings. Hotch got out, closing his own driver's door, and went around to open Alecta's passenger side door to let her out; he helped her get unbuckled….it drover her crazy…she wasn't an invalid, she could do stuff for herself. But, apparently, Hotch was worried about her popping the stitches on her back; and, if she had to tell the truth, the whole thing back there…the carving, the stitches…it was all beginning to hurt a bit. She was getting super tired really quickly. The last few days were creeping up on her. What adrenaline she had been living off of since….since that day was wearing out finally. If it hadn't been for the medication the doctor had her on in the hospital and the sickness she would have gotten no sleep at all, as it was she was only able snatch a couple hours at a time. But now, with her adrenaline running low, the stress of the last few days finally catching up to her, Alecta could barely keep her eyes open. And being so lost in her own little world on the way over here, thinking so hard about how this would all go once she stepped into Hotch's apartment….That was one of her little tricks that she used. If she found herself in the middle of a difficult situation she would try to think of all the possible outcomes and the different routes that one could take to get to these outcomes….For instance, she would try to anticipate what one of Hotch's first questions might be to her or something he might say, and then she would try to plan just exactly how she would reply to that, she would try to anticipate what sort of reaction he was expecting. It always worked with 'normal' people…but she had never played this game with a profiler, well she hadn't _openly_ played the game with a profiler.

She didn't want to be here. For all the things that could possibly happen to her sleeping on that bench back at the bus station, she was less afraid of that prospect. She knew what people could do to each other….Her entire life was a BAU case gone horribly wrong. But it was these like this that terrified her. She wasn't afraid, much, of total strangers….but it was always the people closest to her that had hurt her the most. Strangers, she could care less about, she had no expectations of them, and they couldn't let her down or fail her if she didn't have anything to lose. But the people that she trusted…that was something else. Look at the shining examples; Jake, Fletcher, her brother-Jax…her mother being 'dead' all of these years (although that wasn't entirely her mother's fault, it still weighed on her like nothing else)….even Kevin and Yuri. Kevin for being so cruel as to turn his back on her for all those years, but she had to give him points for trying his damnedest to make it up to her…he had made every effort…and she was grateful. And Yuri, after so many years of believing he was dead…and then he turns around and leaves her, thinking that he's doing her some sort of favor…he never bothered to consider what she might want. The only thing she was grateful for in that situation was that he left the kids with her, giving her time to try to get to know them.

And now, Hotch wanted to profess his love for her? Was he crazy? After all of these issues, now was a bad time to want to be in love with someone like her. It didn't matter how handsome he was, how tall he was, how dark his hair….or the fact that he had a kid, too, and was a great dad according to all that she had seen so far. She didn't want to let him be next in line in her life, because, what would happen when he turned on her? Or worse yet, what would happen when he discovered that she had been right all along….that she wasn't the kind of woman that he needed to be around?

Hotch was a sedate man. He didn't show a lot of emotions, he liked a fair amount of order and structure in his life. And for all that Alecta tried to have the same principles, she had failed miserably.

She tried to show no emotion…but after watching what happened to her mother and to three of her closest friends, she was a basket case. And as for order and structure…sure she may have that as far as the Agnes's were concerned….Well, hell she didn't even have it there any longer…it felt as though, with Theo's maneuver to sell them out, that the group might fragment. She knew she was getting too old to lead them. She was pushing 40, she had all these kids. Recovering from injuries was taking longer than it used to. Even if she couldn't turn her mind off, her body was getting tired….somewhere along the way she had lost a step that she couldn't get back, and she had no idea how it happened. And that was what worried her more than anything; the girl that could once dance on the point of a needle was missing a step, faltering. She hated that.

Getting to Hotch's apartment door, Alecta's stomach started feeling even worse; she wished she could blame it on pregnancy, but for once she was pretty sure that the baby couldn't take the blame for this. Hotch unlocked and opened the door and stood aside to let her go through first; he switched the lights on, watching her get her first good look around.

For a single dad this place was actually quite nicely decorated. It wasn't her personal tastes, but then there aren't many people that could through together Medieval/Renaissance and Industrial into a workable decorating scheme. But it was still a very nice looking apartment. For the most part the furnishings said a lot about the man; no nonsense, a man of few words, few emotions…but they also had a little something more to them…something in them that allowed for Jack to be in the picture….it was the thing that gave off the vibe of him being a good dad. For all the distinction in this apartment, it was also lived in….Hotch didn't live in a museum, he had a home.

Home. That was a funny word. A mom, dad, siblings….Alecta had all of those things, whether she knew it or not…even down to having a half-brother. But she had never actually had a home. After her mother left, there had been nobody that _cared_ for her. Nobody was there to read her a bedtime story. She had to make up her own before she was old enough to read by flipping through the pages of some old book of fairytales that she had gotten from her mom….even that came to her second hand. She still had it, she read to Sofie and Emma from it most nights. That book had been one of the few creature comforts she had been able to save from her life with her father and his friends. And suddenly, she stood there in the middle of the apartment feeling jealous of Jack, before she remembered that his mother had died, for real, and there was no chance of her coming back….but at least he had a dad that would do anything in the world to make sure that a hair on his head wasn't harmed…Hotch wasn't about to sell Jack to the highest bidder.

Drawing in a deep breath to steel her nerves a bit, 'Can I get a shower? I need to get the funk of the last couple of days off of me."

Hotch nodded his agreement, and then moved to make his way to the bathroom and set out towels for her; he let her use his master bathroom. The one that he had designated for Jack had all of these little tub toys and things laying around, he didn't want her to have to work around that.

Alecta's shower was quick. She had taken her messenger bag in the bathroom with her. She was glad she always packed an emergency stash; she had a small bottle of shampoo and one of conditioner. She was careful to lean forward to rinse the stuff out of her hair….luckily Hotch had one of those flexible shower heads on one of those long cords….it made things so much easier. She had to be careful about getting soaps and detergents on the area with the stitches; she didn't need that area irritated worse than it was. She washed up the rest of her body as well as she could, rinsing off; it would have to do the trick until she got the damned stitches out.

Once out of the shower, Alecta dried off carefully, wrapping her hair up in one towel, and wrapping another towel around her body. Reaching into her bag she pulled out her one pair of emergency under wear that she had and put them on.

Coming out of the bathroom in the towel, she realized that Jeffy and Rachel had accidently picked up her other bags.

"Damn it!"

Hotch had been in the kitchen getting himself something to drink, but stopped and rushed into his room, not even thinking….

As he rounded the corner of the doorway to his room he happened to look up and caught sight of her standing there still wrapped in the towel; except now, her hair was down, the dampness having been wrung out by the towel she had wrapped it in initially. Once he saw her he tripped over the strip of flooring that separated his room from the hallway. Luckily he was able to keep his balance without making too much of an ass out of himself.

"What's wrong?"

"It seems as though Rachel and Jeffy have my bags with my clothes in them. I don't have any pajamas, and I know I can't sleep in a towel. If I did you might break your fool neck trying to make breakfast in the morning."

Hotch gave her a wide eyed look, 'Oh please, you've been tripping over furniture for days now. I think it's starting to become a habit."

Smiling at her, Hotch had the good sense to blush a bit, 'I may have something you can sleep in, hang on."

Hotch rifled through his closet, producing one of his button front dress shirts, like the ones he usually wore with his work suits.

"Oh, honey…it's so cute how you think that shirt will fit over these ta-tas. Would you happen to have a t-shirt, or something that doesn't button across the front….I don't trust the buttons."

"You wear blouses similar to this all the time around the office."

"Yes. But I have them custom made. I learned my lesson after I busted out of a few of the store bought ones that I tried. My boobs are like the Borg, resistance is futile. So yeah, if you have a spare t-shirt…and maybe some sweat pants, I am kinda cold natured. And some socks….I'm sorry…but they have my stuff, or else I'd…"

"Hush, here." Hotch grinned at her again as he placed the dark grey sweat pants and some socks and an old faded blue t-shirt that had bits and pieces of an old FBI logo left on it.

"Thank you." Without even flinching, she went ahead and grabbed the sweat pants, pulling them on underneath the towel. Next she grabbed the t-shirt and pulled it down over the towel. After that was finished she was able to drop the towel altogether, and she didn't even show anything.

Hotch started snickering, Alecta looked at him, 'What?"

"I knew you were tiny, but damn. It makes me think of when Jack tries to dress up as me."

Alecta looked down, she saw what he meant. The jogging pants were so long on her that the cuffs around the ankles hung off of her feet; as it was she had the drawstring as tight as she could get it and they were still almost too baggy. And the t-shirt…the shoulders of the t-shirt hung down almost to her elbows.

Shrugging, she pulled her hair out of the back of the shirt to let it flow over her shoulders. She hopped up on the bed, having a bit of trouble between the height of the bed and the pain she was in because of her back, so Hotch had to help her a little. She seemed sort of quiet as she pulled her knees up, one at a time, to put the socks on her feet. Hotch could only smile and shake his head at how much bigger his socks looked on her feet.

"I can't help it never grew past age, what 14…not my fault. Did you know that Jack is almost as tall as I was when I was like 12? It's all true."

That gave Hotch a turn. Jack was about to turn nine soon and he was around 4' tall; so what she was basically saying was, that at age 12, she wasn't much taller than a nine year old boy. Of course there was the odd chance that Jack was just tall for his age, with Hotch being around 6'1, and Haley had been about 5'6-5'8.

"Where did you get your height, or lack thereof? Your mom is like 5'11 and Jake was around 6'6. Where did they get you?"

"Gypsies. They figure heavily in the story of my life.' She jumped down off the bed as carefully as possible. "Ya got anything to eat? I'm about to starve." As if on cue, her stomach rumbled quite loudly.

"Ok, come on." Hotch looked in his fridge, wincing. There wasn't a lot of food in there, but much of what was there looked suspiciously like a science experiment. "Um, we need to call for take-out."

"Alright, I am actually feeling sushi right now. I want a couple orders of Nigri Hamachi, an order of Melting Snowman, an order of Russian Roulette, and a Tempura Seafood roll…."

"You're about to cost me a fortune. You know that right?"

"See you should have left me at the station after all. I'll share….I mean, I'll try to share…but if the baby eats it all….well, I can't help you with that."

"You…." Hotch shook his head, but picked up the phone. He would order one of everything off of the menu if she wanted it. He just hoped she could keep it down. He phoned in the order, hanging up he told her it would be there in about a half an hour. While they waited, they were sitting side by side on the couch; she was slightly slouched, but not too much…their arms were side by side. Hotch didn't make a big deal of the fact that she was starting to relax around him. He didn't want that to suddenly change. While they were trying to get into the TV show they had finally settled on, they had talked a bit, just idle chit chat….he could tell she was winding down again. That shower might have perked her up, but it wasn't lasting that long.

The doorbell rang, Hotch leaned over to pat Alecta's stomach; it surprised her, she grabbed his wrist as his hand got closer. She wanted to see what he would do, but she wasn't afraid to stop him if she must….it was just sad that, if she had to stop him, it would include his wrist being in a cast….

As he put a hand on her stomach, he leaned over a bit, 'Be nice to mommy and let her eat something for a change." With that he stood up and went to the door, fishing some money out of his wallet; he smiled, actually chuckled at the shocked expression on Alecta's face. Hotch couldn't believe it, but he would swear he had just rendered her speechless.

"You're speechless? I would have never thought…"

"Don't get used to it, smartass. Ooh! Ooh! Gimmie it."

"Chopsticks?"

Reaching into the carton to pull out a piece of the sushi roll with her fingers, 'You're kidding right? Do I look like the kind of girl that likes to let her food escape?" Alecta merely raised an eyebrow at him.

"Ok, but let me get you a fork. They're new inventions…."

"Not so much. The earliest use of small forks for eating were bone forks from the Bronze Age from between 2400-1900BC and some in later Chinese dynastic tombs….But forks that were created for personal became the rage during about the 4th century CE, I can even look up the name of the Empress that started it…"

"You don't get to spend so much free time with Reid."

"Oh, dude, everybody knows that one. And you forget, you read my file…history major. I don't need Reid for this. I can do this all day. On a lighter note….This is sooo freaking good. What place is this from?"

Hotch mentioned the name of the place, 'Ah yes," smacking her lips together, as if she could tell who made it, 'I wonder if Chen made this. Try the Tempura Seafood roll…ohmyGod that is good."

"I don't like a really fishy flavor."

"More for me." Alecta shrugged, not waiting for him to change his mind. They ate and chatted, Hotch couldn't believe how animated she seemed to be now. Before the death of Jake and his friends, she still had humor, but you could see the black cloud that seemed to hang over her head. Her humor was more sarcastic and cutting. Now, that cloud was gone. Most of the wariness in her eyes was gone, she smiled more freely. Some of the tension was still there, but then again, she'd lived nearly her entire life being stuck in those circumstances; it wasn't going to all go away in one day.

Hotch was suddenly brought out of his musings, 'Ow!"

He jumped up, knocking over his chair he moved so quickly, 'What happened? Are you ok?"

"Dude, calm down, the kid was kicking me. It was kicking the shit out of me actually,' Alecta sort of leaned forward a little bit, 'I'm trying to eat as quick as I can already. Gah! Calm down."

"We have got to get you a doctor's appointment and see exactly how far along you are now and to see if things are going along normally with the baby. It's already kicking?"

Alecta nodded, 'Don't believe me? Put your hand right here, and wait…."

"But you're not even showing yet."

"Wait for it….' suddenly there was a sharp kick, you could definitely make out a foot. "Since you like to ogle me so much that navigation is an issue for you, you better get your eyefuls while you can. I'm not showing now, but when I start showing I'm going to be as big as a barn. I'll be the whale in the revival of 'Free Willy'."

"It won't be that bad."

"Says the man that has no clue. Move it over boss man, you're holding up progress."

At one point during the conversation, Alecta dropped her fork on the floor, and grabbed one of the sticks from her pair of chop-sticks and kept on going by stabbing the bits of sushi with the stick.

Hotch laughed as she did pause long enough to pick up her fork, then stuck about four pieces of sushi in a row onto the stick as she walked into his kitchen to put the fork into the sink and get a dish cloth to clean up the mess if one was made.

"I have never seen you pack food away quite like this. Tapeworm?"

"You'd think so. I'm just super freaking hongry….not hungry, hongry." She winced a bit.

"Another kick?"

"Yes. I'll bet this crumb snatcher is going to keep me up all freaking night. I'm feeding the baby, he or she should calm it down."

They ate and talked for another 20 minutes. Finally, it seemed, Alecta had reached the full mark and couldn't eat another bite. Her eyes were getting heavier; when she would blink, it would take her longer to open her eyes.

"You need to get to bed. You've had enough excitement for a few days." Hotch leaned over her again.

"If you pick me up one more time, I swear…."

"You can kill me later. Although, I might recommend you wait until after you have the baby. By then I will have warn you down."

"Wanna know what I was doing during my pregnancy with Sofie and Emma? I can sleep on the couch. Put me on the….' she had to stop to yawn.

"I'm putting you in the bed. You need to sleep in a real bed."

"I'd be comfortable enough on the couch."

"Hush, I'm putting you in the bed. End of story."

"Where are you going to sleep?"

"On the sofa."

She tried again to squirm free, "But this is your house. You should get to sleep in your own bed. I told you I'd be fine at the station." Her voice sounded somewhat excitable, but he could tell she was running on fumes.

"Hush hard head. God are you and Garcia alike."

He didn't hear anything else out of her; as he walked down the hall to his bedroom, he looked down at her, and she had fallen asleep in his arms, with her face nearly buried against his chest.

"Sleep on the sofa, my ass.' Hotch mumbled to himself.

Using one hand he pulled the covers on the bed back while he still held her with one arm, then he placed her ever so carefully onto the bed, ever mindful of her stitches. Pulling up the covers, he wondered if she would be warm enough; he had the sheet and a relatively decent comforter on the bed, but he had grown to know how cold natured she could be, and he kept it around 68° or so in the apartment. He and Jack were both a tad hot natured at times, and with Jack being so active, he'd get over heated in no time. As Hotch backed away from the bed, he decided to go to the hall closet and get a spare blanket, one that he placed over top of the comforter. While in his room, he went through his chest of drawers and found something that was suitable for him to sleep in; another pair of jogging pants and t-shirt, he went into his master bathroom to change.

Coming out he saw Alecta curled over on her left side in much the same pose as he had seen her take sleeping before, as well as the twins. Her head was resting on the very bottom corner of the pillow. She had her left arm tucked under her head, and her hair was spilling over onto his pale blue sheets. Now he'd never get the combination of brown and blue out of his mind. His bed was a king size; and even considering the fact that Alecta was stretched out to nearly her full length, she still on took up about half the entire length of the bed. Shaking his head, Hotch walked out into the hall and went to the hall closet, getting out a spare blanket and a pillow before padding down the rest of the hall to his buddy the couch.

Four hours had passed, the only sounds that could be heard in Hotch's apartment would be the ticking of the odd clock or the sound of the air coming on…..that is until the blood curdling scream that jarred him from his deep sleep

**POST AN: Ta-Da. I am now going to be brewing the next chapter, we'll see what falls out.**


	15. Chapter 15

**AN: So, here we are at Chpt 15. Let's see where this road takes us, yeah.**

"**You've faced horrors in these past weeks... I don't know which is worse. The terror you feel the first time you witness such things, or the numbness that comes after it starts to become ordinary." (Tasha Alexander, A Fatal Waltz)**

Having been completely jarred out of a dead sleep, Hotch's rolled over, falling off of the couch, landing on the floor between the coffee table and the sofa.

Hitting the floor, 'Damn it." He jumped up and took off down the hall.

He rounded the corner of the bedroom door, taking only a split second to check the room over, his eyes falling on Alecta. She was sitting straight up in bed, disheveled, gasping for breath. If you didn't know she had just been asleep, you would think that she had just got done running a mile. She couldn't seem to get her breath. Her hair was completely disheveled; most of it was still falling down her back, but several strands were askew across her face, she used her right hand to try to swipe it out of her way.

Hotch stepped carefully towards the bed, 'Are you alright?" More than anything he just wanted to make sure she was aware that he was there. After she took a swing at him with the scalpel at the hospital the other day, he wanted to make sure she knew he was coming. She merely looked at him through the strands of hair that had partially blocked her vision; there was a terrified look in her eyes, but yet, there was a touch of relief in them, too.

Hotch sat on the bed, near her, he reached out and raked the hair out of her face. "What happened?"

"I fell asleep."

"Yeah, I was there for that."

"There was a shadowy figure trying to take my baby. I was fighting it, whatever it was, but it took my baby. I had the same nightmares with my other pregnancies, too. A lot of them came with Rachel, she was my first baby. And I had a lot of them when I was pregnant with Sofie and Emma…after losing the one before them….It t-t-took my baby…."

He could hear it in the way that her voice quivered when she spoke that she was really upset by this. He pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her. She was so tense, but she leaned on him, only for as second.

She began to get agitated again, trying to get out of the bed, suddenly uncomfortable with everything, 'I have to go. I have to go now."

"No. You don't have to go. You can stay here, right here."

She started shaking her head 'no'. "I have to leave." She began to may a serious effort to get out of the bed and collect her things. She kept repeating that she 'had to leave'. For someone that was supposed to be taking it easy, per doctor's orders, she could move unnervingly fast when she was motivated.

"I'm not letting you go back to that station."

"I'm not going back to the station."

Suddenly, Hotch began to worry. If she didn't go back to the station, where would she go? Would she go to Rachel's place? Or would she run farther? And would he be so lucky finding her again?

"You can't leave."

"I have to. I don't have a choice."

"Do you really think that you'll be able to out run whatever is in your nightmares where ever you're planning to go? Stay with me; at least then I'll know you're in one piece."

"I know I'll never out run them. But what else am I supposed to do? Running is all I know. I've had to do it for so long, it's the only thing I'm good at anymore. Running's all I got left." She shrugged her shoulders, and he saw it then, the resignation in her eyes.

"Ok, well, I can't let you just leave, not happening. I can sleep in here with you,' seeing the look she shot him, 'no funny business. Just sleep, that's all. Like, at the Eason's. I can wake you up if you have another nightmare."

"I don't know if I can go back to sleep. Usually I can't."

"Well, you don't have to sleep if you don't want to; just lay there and rest. After the last couple of weeks that you've had, you need to at least rest."

Hotch was still sitting on the bed, Alecta was standing a few feet away, he could see the indecision eating away at her. She was weighing her options. He could tell by the look in her eyes that she really wanted to just split. He was afraid to blink, knowing that if he did she'd be gone when he opened his eyes.

She could run, it was something she was used to; she would likely wind up at Rachel's apartment, which, in Hotch's mind, was just fine. If she had to run away from him and go anywhere, he'd prefer it be to Rachel's….or to Rossi's. Her mother was staying at Rossi's; Rachel's apartment would be wall to wall kids, what with both sets of twins, Oleg, and Jazzy. Or, if she ran away, she could do it right and run completely away and leave the state, or even leave the country. And considering how many friends she had internationally, this was a distinct possibility. He figured it was unlikely she would stay at any of her compounds, some of them had been coming under fire recently from outside forces, and a few inside jobs, and she was unlikely to cause more problems for her friends. But it was common knowledge that she had access to various properties all over the globe. There were a couple of apartments in Paris, a few estates in and around London that she could hide-out in….and let's not forget her friend Eli would put her up in his native Israel if all else failed; and the Gypsies in Eastern Europe. Then there was always her beloved Istanbul….she could go to literally any corner of the world, and she could stay hidden as long as she pleased, nobody would ever find her. Even if she couldn't hide herself entirely, there was always Penelope. She could just do some little trick with her computers and Alecta could disappear for as long as she wanted, and Penelope's particular skill set was pretty iron clad. If Hotch wanted her to stay, he would have to do some fancy foot work to get her to see things his way.

Then, she could decide to stay. Hotch wasn't sure he liked the odds that were stacked against that idea. She just had a nightmare about a shadow figure, probably a man, taking her baby away from her, he couldn't really expect her to just crawl into bed and sleep next to another man….he hoped this would work. He knew she was so very tired.

She stood there for a bit, staring at Hotch, trying to decipher what his intentions might be. Finally, fatigue must have won out over everything else; she began coming closer to the bed. She stopped just long enough to grab at his suit case, standing it on its flat side, and standing up on the suit case. Hotch could only smile ruefully when he realized she was using it as a stepping stool to be able to reach the bed.

He was shaken out of his humor when she paused, one knee on the bed, her hands placed down in front of her to brace for when she shifted her weight, 'You promise? No funny business…just sleeping?"

"I swear, that's all. I don't have to touch you at all; I can sleep on this side, with my back to you…..whatever. I just want you to be able to get some rest."

Alecta either believed him, or she was seriously tired, but she nodded and finished making her way onto the bed. She began to settle down next to Hotch, but stopped, 'Can I sleep on the side away from the door?" She asked in her small, tired voice. Nodding, Hotch held his hands out to lift her up and over him, he could never believe how light she was. As he lifted her up she tucked her feet up close to her body so she could avoid hitting him with them, and then he placed her down on the other side of the bed, and scooted over a bit onto his new side.

She was still sitting up on her knees, legs tucked under her, when Hotch finally got resituated. She was looking at him, a questioning look on her face.

"What?"

"Do you think…..Do you think I've been an awful mother? To…well all of them, from Rachel on down?"

"What makes you ask that?"

"N-nothing. Never mind."

She made a move to turn over and go back to sleep, Hotch placed a hand on her arm to stop her, 'No. What do you mean? What makes you think you're a bad mother?"

Alecta sighed heavily, trying to figure out how to say what she had to say, at least that's what Hotch figured was going through her head.

"It's just….I was thinking out loud is all. It's nothing." She pulled her arm free and got settled down beside of him, Hotch knew there was a lot she wasn't saying, it didn't take being a top notch profiler to realize that. But he had to let it go for now. If he pushed her, she might clam up altogether, she'd been known to do that. He knew that, after recent events she had been left feeling like a class A failure, that she had somehow fallen short of whatever it was she was trying to achieve and in the process had failed everyone around her.

Letting it go, Hotch hunkered back down under the covers, laying on his right side, facing her. She had turned on her left side, facing him and curled up closely to him, practically resting her head against his chest the way she had back at the Eason's house. Hotch wrapped his arms around her like he had then and they fell back asleep, neither one of them waking for several more hours.

As he drifted back off to sleep, he murmured to her, 'Nobody is taking your baby from you. If they try, they have to go through me first. You got that?"

The only response she gave was a soft little 'mmm hmmm'; she was already falling back asleep.

The next morning Hotch sat up and leaned over Alecta a bit to see the clock. Ten in the morning? Good grief, he never slept this late, unless he didn't get a lot of sleep the night before. Alecta was still out of it, so he jumped out of bed and went on into the bathroom to start his morning routine. After washing his face and combing through his hair, Hotch made his way out into the kitchen…he intended to make some kind of breakfast for Alecta if it killed him. It wasn't until he got to the kitchen that he remembered he didn't have a lot of fresh ingredients and that the fridge was a science fair gone horribly wrong.

At about that same moment his cell rang and he snatched it up quickly, in a hurry to answer it so it wouldn't wake up the angel in his bed.

"Hotchner."

"Where's Alecta?"

"Good morning to you, too, Rossi."

"Yeah, yeah. Where is she? Her mother is going bananas. She called over to Rachel's to talk, to see if Alecta was alright, and Rachel told her she wasn't there. And now, momma bear is wearing a hole in my hardwood floors. Where. Is. She?"

"As of right now, she's still asleep, in the bed. If you want, you can bring her mother over and she can see that she's safe for herself. But, if you do bring her over, might I ask a favor of you?"

"You dog. What do you need?" Hotch could hear the smirk in Rossi's voice.

"Nothing has happened, nothing like what you're implying anyway. Food. We need food. I was going to make her some breakfast to be ready when she got up, but I don't have anything that isn't four different colors, and she has enough problems with nausea. Just remember, no eggs."

"Ok, give us about 45 minutes. We're already dressed for the day, but that will give us plenty of time to pick up the goods and get there."

Rossi and Mrs. King had run to the store on the way to Hotch's house. Mrs. King did the 50yrd dash while she was in there grabbing anything she might need to make pancakes. She made sure to grab some sugar free syrup for Alecta. Even after all these years, she managed to remember that regular high-octane syrup made Alecta painfully nauseous under the best of circumstances…also she picked up some blackberries (Alecta's other favorite food group, behind the oatmeal cookies and juice), and she picked up strawberries and blueberries, as well as a bunch of bananas. While Mrs. King was doing her power shopping, Rossi grabbed stuff for sandwiches for later, knowing that Hotch had enough to think about without worry about food. Between the two of them, Rossi and Mrs. King had wrapped up their spree rather quickly. Hotch didn't live more than a 10 minute drive from the store, so they were still able to get there within the 45 minutes that Rossi had quoted Hotch.

Once they arrived, Mrs. King looked determinedly at Hotch, 'Third door on the left ma'am."

"You don't have to call me ma'am. I'm not that much older than you. I'll be back in a minute, boys."

Rossi turned on Hotch as soon as Mrs. King made her way down the hall, 'What are you thinking?"

"I did nothing wrong…"

"Oh please. Don't give me…."

"I started off sleeping on the couch. She woke up, screaming like somebody was killing her….after the last few days, can you blame her? I rolled over, hit the floor, went to go see if she was alright. She was going to run. She started to gather her stuff.

Rossi when I found her after leaving the airstrip in the first place, she was going to sleep on a bench in the bus station. If she ran, where would she go? I'm not worried that she has nowhere to go; I'm more worried that she has too many places that she _can_ go. Between that and Garcia's help, we'd never find her again, unless she wanted us to.

I told her to just go back to sleep, I stayed with her so if she had another nightmare I could wake her up….

Besides, when are you gonna start calling her mother by her first name?"

"When I get amnesia and forget that my mother tried to raise me right."

About this time Mrs. King came back down the hall making her way to the living room, she saw that the guys had put away some of the grocery items while she was checking on Alecta.

"Oh, you're both such good boys. I'm making pancakes and bacon. Go sit down."

"I can help if you would like, I cook for Jack and myself all the time."

Mrs. King just turned a finely arched eyebrow on Hotch, tilting her head to one side. Hotch only nodded and went to sit on the sofa. Rossi began to laugh, 'You too old man, go park it." Rossi stopped laughing then and just looked at Mrs. King, 'Are you sure that you don't need help?"

Pointing to the living room, 'Go. Sit."

Rossi meant a lot to Alecta, his little visit to her when she was in the funny farm had meant more to that girl than she could ever put into words. Alecta had quietly adopted this old man as the kind of dad she had always wanted…..always deserved. And the younger of the two men, Agent Hotchner, he had saved Alecta's life on at least two different occasions now. The least she could do is make them breakfast. It was only pancakes, it's not like it was hard. Besides, she knew it had been a long time since her baby had had a decent meal. Alecta was too thin; Mrs. King knew that with Alecta being pregnant she should be having better food on a regular basis.

Mrs. King started by mixing the pancake batter, then she set that to the side for a couple of minutes while she cleaned the berries off and put them into bowls and chopped the bananas. Next, she was ready to drop the pancakes. In a matter of about 20 or 25 minutes she had four plates of pancakes, four high on each plate, and she had managed to get a bit of butter smeared on them as she went. While she had been flipping the pancakes, she had the bacon going in the other frying pan; by the time the pancakes were all finished, the bacon was definitely done.

"Breakfast is ready,' she called as she stacked the bacon on a plate on top of some paper towels to drain the excess grease away from it.

"You fellas fix your plates; I have the fruit in separate bowls. Lex hates blueberries even touching her food. She's never been able to stomach them. I'm going to go get her."

Mrs. King went back down the hall to get Alecta up and bring her back into the dining area for her breakfast. Mrs. King couldn't help but laugh a little when she saw what her daughter was wearing. _Was there nothing Agent Hotchner wouldn't do for my girl?_

"I'm coming momma, let me get my hair tamed back a bit, and I'll be right there."

Mrs. King made her way back out to the kitchen and dining room of the apartment. They guys had loaded their plates with some of the fruit to top off their pancakes and some syrup as well as getting some of the bacon.

They all sat down at the table, Mrs. King had gotten her plate together and Alecta still hadn't come out yet.

Worrying, Hotch called out to her to come join them or they might accidently eat all of the pancakes. Mrs. King was a wonderful cook.

Alecta came down the hall; she had brushed her hair out and pulled it back in a simple sloppy ponytail. She went into the kitchen and got her plate, 'You got me blackberries?" she asked her mother questioningly.

"Yes, they are your favorite." Mrs. King smiled at her daughter confidently.

"Thank you,' Alecta said quietly, turning away, pretending to put some of the berries on her plate, with some bananas, and next gathering some of the bacon.

Hotch wasn't obtuse. He'd heard the tears that were forming in Alecta's voice. Having her mother back in her life was still new to her, and surreal to boot; but he felt like there was something else bothering her that she just hadn't talked about yet.

After turning away from her mother and her colleagues Alecta hadn't moved much at all. She had been standing in one place for several minutes, not even bothering to add more bacon or fruit to her plate. They heard her sigh, and then she set back to gathering her breakfast together.

The way the table was arranged she wound up being seated between her mother and Hotch with Rossi sitting on the other side of her mother. Alecta was careful eating her pancakes, not sure how it might all suit the baby. Apparently the kid liked the pancakes, so far no nausea.

Alecta had been quiet most of breakfast, content to just listen to her mother banter on with Rossi, and the back and forth between Rossi and Hotch.

"Do you know how long it's been since I've had pancakes?"

Mrs. King looked at Alecta, 'How long?"

"The last time you made them." There was a bittersweet smile on her face; it was like the memory was the best and worst memory that she had all at the same time. "You made the little silver-dollar ones, you had gotten some blackberries just for me from the Gatlings' yard. You mushed them up a little bit since we didn't have syrup. You even had a couple of pancakes for yourself, but you let me eat as many as I wanted.

I remember you had wanted to make them for my birthday, but weren't able to. You had gone to the store the day before and managed to have enough to get the stuff to make them.

They were the best things I had ever had in my life…it was the day before…..

I always made them for Rachel for her birthday, starting when she was old enough to eat solid food. It was one of the few things I could remember about you, those damned pancakes."

With that Alecta finished her last bite and got up taking her dishes into the kitchen, placing them in the dishwasher.

"Momma, can you help me with something, please?"

Mrs. King nodded 'yes' and followed Alecta to the bedroom. Alecta handed her a tube of some ointment that the doctor had prescribed to be put on the area where her stitches were to keep them from getting itchy and irritated.

"You don't mind helping me do you? I just don't know about…."

"Oh, don't be so silly. Of course I'll help you. You know I haven't gotten to do this sort of thing in a long time. I know some people might complain from time to time about their kids running them ragged. And sometimes it might be true. But, I really enjoyed being your mom, at least while I was able. Putting together your little collection of fairies, making you that little costume….even in the bad times, when I would sleep in the bed with you after a visit from your father, we'd read your fairytale book to help you forget. Even in those times, I was proud to be your mother, because whatever the cost was, I was able to spend five more minutes with you.

And then that fight happened. And he locked me away when he found out I was alive. Once he came to visit me…once. He only came to warn me that if I tried to get out and come to see you, that he would kill you. I knew what he'd done to me; he nearly accomplished what he wanted. I couldn't let him kill you. I knew he'd find out a way to get away with it. He got away with making it look like I was dead all those years. I knew it wouldn't take much for him to do the same to you."

Mrs. King was finishing up the final touches of putting the ointment on Alecta's back, 'And I don't blame you or hold you responsible for lying to the cops about what happened that night." She began putting the cap back on the tube, seeing Alecat's shocked expression.

"Oh don't look so shocked. Agent Rossi told me about it. he said that you had talked about that being one of 1,000 regrets that you had. Well, you don't have to regret it. I don't blame you, never had."

Alecta started sobbing uncontrollably at that point. Mrs. King pulled Alecta's shirt back down to cover her up, then she grabbed her daughter and wrapped her in a tight hug.

Stroking Alecta's hair, 'You did what you had to do to live in that house…"

Sobbing into her mom's neck, 'But you had 'died' trying to save me."

"And I wouldn't change a thing about my decisions, whatever the cost. Except maybe that I wouldn't have let him bully me into staying locked in that institution for all those years."

Mrs. King took some time, as she rubbed the ointment into Alecta's back, to just rub her back as she used to when Alecta got upset as a kid; although, this time she had to be quite careful.

"Why didn't you let Agent Hotchner help you?"

"Why would I?"

"He really seems to be genuine about what he says and how he feels. And he knows this is here already; it's not like it's some big secret."

"Him I trust. Me, not so much. I had to learn the hard way that my judgment, where it concerns my own well-being can't be trusted. Making the wrong choices has cost me more than I have. No, Hotch I trust. I mean if I didn't before, I would have no choice but to trust him after he killed Fletcher.

Besides, knowing that _this_ is there and seeing it are two different things. And really momma, that's not the only one, it's just the biggest." Alecta thought for a second, 'Although he has seen some of the others….and it doesn't seem to have made a difference in the way he's behaved towards me."

"Now, see, that's what I'm talking about. You should really give the poor man a break. He's taken out a hall table, the floor…"

"A doorway…"

"And I'm sure there is a lot more furniture that we are forgetting to name….either let him off the hook or put him out of his misery. Besides, since I'm alive and well, if he turns out to be scum, you've got momma here to make him pay. And not to mention what Garcia and Rossi would do to him….and Kevin."

"This poor man; putting up with me is punishment enough don't you think?"

"Well, I don't know. I'm your mother, so I'm biased. But do try to give him some slack. You're not that bad are you?"

Alecta looked up from where she had her head laying against her mother's shoulder, her eyes cut up to her mother's face.

"You're kidding me right?"

"What happened to the sweet little girl I tried to raise?"

"Um. I worked in a fetish dungeon in Vegas for a couple of years…In the office, in the office. Met my two friends Moira and Cinnamon…we started the Agnes's…Became a cop, then a detective. Married twice, had six kids. Somewhere in the middle of all that stuff, due to activities in my organization, I became trained as an assassin in Israel. Met a lovely old man there, Eli David, he is he head of their Mossad…it's kinda of like their version of the CIA. His daughter Ziva is like the sister I never had. She's great. I became so good at my assassination skills that I had to get myself registered as a lethal weapon. Although as of lately you'd never know it, I haven't been doing such a great job."

"You've lived, isn't that good enough?"

"I've become unfocused. I've let my environment control me. It's like I told Hotch, I've lost a step somewhere. I don't know what happened or when it happened, but there's just something wrong. I never used to be off my game this much."

"Maybe it's time to retire from the organization."

"You don't retire from the organization…it's like the mob. I could run one of the citadels…train them, I guess, pass on the assassin training I received. And since I have master's degrees in history, anthropology, and foreign language I can teach."

"When did you have time to get a master's degree?"

"The lady that ran that dungeon I worked for….she got me enrolled in an independent high school. I finished early, and started college. Some of the classes I took were online courses, so I could stay home and take care of Rachel part of the time. And then when I did need to go to the campus there was a day care if I needed it." Alecta shrugged like it was no big deal.

"You've packed some life and mileage into your years haven't you?"

"Yeah. But it's not like it worked. I could never run fast enough or far enough. It has all caught up to me in the long run hasn't it?"

"Anyway, I think we have the cream rubbed in pretty well, we better get back out there or the guys will send a search party."

"Yeah they will. Rossi is a former Marine; he takes the whole 'no man left behind' thing pretty seriously. And then there's Hotch….I'm forgetting what it's like to have personal space. I'm used to doing everything on my own, without help from anybody."

"Well I think it's cute. And it's about time you had a decent man in your life that will help you."

"I had Yuri, for a while."

"And maybe he was a great husband. But, that was 12 years ago, he was into some shady business, you couldn't even really keep the kids with you much because of your job and his. And he still left you, however honorable he may think he's being he still left.

You need a guy that isn't part of a mafia family from God knows where…and a man that isn't going to black your eyes the first time he disagrees with something you do or say."

"It's just strange to have a little 'normal' after so much chaos."

"Well I think it's cute, so shut up and enjoy it."

"Yes ma'am."

Mrs. King helped Alecta pull her…Hotch's t-shirt back down and they made their way out to the living room. In truth, Alecta was already starting to feel a little tired again. All the drama of the past couple of weeks on top of her insomnia…it was all finally kicking in. Add that to the crazy things that a pregnancy can do to a body….and she was really tired.

Rossi must have sensed that she was wearing out, 'Rachel, would you like to go see a movie and then maybe have an early dinner after?"

"Why certainly, what movie did you have in mind?"

There was some movie with Kathy Bates that was playing. "Is she any good?"

"You've never heard of Kathy Bates?"

"Agent Rossi, I've been locked up in an institution for the last 36 years. There's a lot I don't know. Now, is she any good?"

"Yes, momma, she is one of the best. I think you might like the movie. It sounds like a good one from the descriptions of it that I have heard."

"Well. Alright then, one movie and a dinner can't hurt. Let's go then."

Rossi took Mrs. King by the elbow and escorted her out, getting a rueful smirk from Hotch, both men muttering 'good luck' to one another.

Having heard what Hotch and Rossi had said, Alecta whacked Hotch in the arm, muttering 'I'm not that bad."

"Of course you're not." He smiled at her ruefully.

"Ok, maybe I am. But, you're the one that wants me. So, what's that make you?"

After bantering back and forth for a couple of minutes, 'What would you like to do today?"

"I don't know. There are so many things that need to be done, and I don't know where to begin. I have to make two separate funeral arrangements; although, I could get away with sending both Moira and Cinnamon to Ireland for burial. Considering that Cinnamon never knew any of her birth family, it's not like she has anyone…she doesn't have any other family outside of _us_ that really cares what happens to her."

Hotch noticed how sad she seemed all of the sudden; it was like for just a few hours she had put the thoughts of her friends in the back of her mind, and now that they were back, they made her so sad. She turned to walk back towards his kitchen, one resting backwards on her hip, the other resting momentarily against her forehead before being raked through her hair, dislodging some of it from the ponytail…then that hand, too, rested in reverse on the opposite hip. She was looking down at the floor as she walked trying to get her thoughts straight.

Without looking up or acknowledging any movement or thought from Hotch, she continued into the kitchen, and was still muttering to herself about all the things she had to do….

"I still have to go through the remnants of the compound, see if there's anything else left to be salvaged. I'm sure the crew got most of it, but still…."

Hotch had enough of her looking so beaten down with thoughts of what to do to pick up the pieces, _**if**_ all of them could even be salvaged.

Grabbing her by the shoulders, 'We're going out. You've got to get out of here and do something fun."

"No time for fun Hotch. I got two bodies on ice waiting for me to do one thing right by them. I have ashes and debris to dig through to see if there's anything left of my little enterprise….."

"Tomorrow. It'll all still be there tomorrow. You need a break."

"No. What I need is a time machine."

"Go get dressed. We're going out, that's the end of that."

"Um, what am I supposed to wear? No clothes, remember."

"Then we will have to go buy you some new stuff."

"Or you can call Rachel and tell her to bring my old stuff over. She'll be wanting to get rid of it soon anyway…"

"Why?"

"If I know Kevin the way I used to…."

"What did he do?"

"Nothing, just packed the uniform jackets that belonged to 'Revolutionary Dan' and Dorian. And the odds are decent that he added Constance's playing cards, Daphne's doll, and the box that holds the rings that belonged to Abigail and Ezra.

Although, if she was smart she'd hang on to Daphne's doll; she'd love being able to visit the girls."

"Are you telling me that they are connected to the items that are in that luggage?"

"Yes, very much so. Kevin probably thought he was doing me a favor, sending me back up like that."

The idea that he had sent that stuff with her finally brought a smile to her face, 'That ought to teach her to take off with my stuff. She should be getting tired of ol' Daniel in…3…2...1"

There was a sudden ringing of Hotch's doorbell. Walking over to the door, Hotch checked the peep-hole.

"How did you…?"

"I know my dead people. Daniel is nothing if not persistent."

Rachel was on the other side of the door waiting for someone to open it and let her in.

"Come on Agent Hotchner, I know mama is in there. Grandma already called and let me know that she found her."

Hotch opened the door to Rachel, who in fact had brought her mother's bags with her.

"I can't stay long; I left Jeffy in charge of the kids, which isn't so bad if Sasha and Eva will help out. But still, he's new to having to deal with all these kids. And I have to run to the grocery store anyway. Daniel is an ass, Dorian is a close second. Daphne kept the girls up all damned night playing dolls. And if Constance would have shook me just once more to ask me 100 questions or play cards at 3 am, I think I would have snapped. Abigail was the only one that has any common sense apparently, and sometimes that was spotty at best.

I'll be back sometime tomorrow to see how you're doing but I have to run, you know how cranky the kids get on little sleep and an empty tummy. And like I said, Jeffy is alone with that bunch."

Alecta could barely contain her laughter. "Go, I don't want the heathens to turn your house into the Donner Party."

"They're your kids."

Rachel hugged her mother and then beat a path back out the door, having left the bags just inside the entry.

"Well that solves the whole shopping issue." Alecta all but laughed.

"We can still go if you want. It's not a big deal."

"I've never been much for shopping. When I was a kid, I wore my clothes 'til they fell apart, had no choice. And when I got older, I spent everything I had making sure Rachel had what she needed. I don't think I have ever done much shopping for myself."

"You need to get out with Garcia and the girls some time, they'll show you how it's done."

"Yeah, I already know about Garcia's shopping habits. She could go pro. I'm going to go get changed, think seriously about what you might want to do."

Alecta took about 15 minutes pulling herself together. She washed her face, brushed her teeth….ran the brush back through her hair, she left it free hanging, but put the ponytail holder around her wrist for later.

Hotch looked up from his seat on the sofa as she made her way back down the hall into the living room.

'_Terrific, maybe I should just invest in a helmet'_. Hotch thought to himself, shaking his head.

Alecta was wearing a white camisole top, with a crimson colored oversized shell that was over that…one of those that draped across one shoulder and exposed the other one. She was poured into the jeans that had boot cut legs on them….they were definitely an 'ass' pair of jeans. She had walked the hem around the ankles of her jeans 'til they were frayed. She was wearing a pair of thong flip flops that were a matching shade of crimson to her shell, and they had some silver decorations and little beads on them.

He watched her like a hawk (as always) while she rummaged in her messenger bag, 'Jackpot!" she had found her big 'fish-eyed' sunglasses that were white like her camisole top. Reaching back into her bag she was able to pull out a smaller little purse of sorts. It was just big enough to hold a couple credit cards, her driver's license, and cell phone. It had a strap that fit around her wrist.

"I'm ready, are you?"

Not trusting himself to not say something incriminating, Hotch merely nodded the affirmative.

"Well then come on, boss man, we're burning daylight." Alecta said flirtatiously as she reached up, patting his cheek as she walked right under his nose.

Hotch was left trying to figure out what kind of masochistic test God was trying to put him through.

As Alecta walked out the door, Hotch could hear her voice lingering in the air, 'Enjoy the view. It won't be long and I'll be bigger than a barn."

**Post AN: Ok, I felt like this was a decent place to end this chapter; if I had not, it could have gone on indefinitely…you've seen it happen before. Besides, since the chapter opened with Alecta having a nightmare, I thought it would be nice to end it on a lighter note. Next chapter I will try to work out what they did for 'fun' and maybe get Alecta into see a doctor to do a check up on her pregnancy (she's been sort of lax about that….) Depending on how the next chapter works itself out, I may be able to get some Morgan/Garcia in there (just for you Virginia)…maybe, dunno yet.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Chpt. 16**

"**I am good, but not an angel. I do sin, but I am not the devil. I am just a small girl in a big world trying to find someone to love." (Marilyn Monroe)**

At Morgan's house it was 3am. They had only been back in Quantico for a matter of nine hours; nine hours at most. He snapped awake when he heard the shower cut on….again.

Penelope had taken three showers already…this was her fourth one. She still hadn't talked about anything related to what happened when she and Alecta had gone missing. Penelope hadn't talked much at all since being found. When they initially found the girls and got them to the hospital, most of what Pen had said was in reference to asking how Alecta was doing. Anytime that Derek brought up how she was feeling or asked her how she was or what happened, she brushed him off with questions about Alecta or to talk about some of the adventures Alecta and her 'associates' had been on over the years. To hear Pen tell the stories, one would have thought that Alecta was some sort of urban myth….a modern day Paul Bunyan.

Earlier tonight they had ordered delivery from Pen's favorite Chinese restaurant, and watched some old Cary Grant movie….'Topper' from 1937, with his lady co-star being Constance Bennett. It was actually quite a funny movie; poor old Mr. Topper trying to go through life with these ghosts of a deceased couple pestering him every day. He even had to go to court for what seemed to be a physical altercation with police.

After that film was finished, Morgan could tell Pen was getting tired, he wanted to talk to her though, but she insisted they watch the 1934 version of Les Misérables. Whatever she wanted, he'd do. All was fine and well until the moment that he figured out it was all in French with subtitles. She wasn't in the mood to talk dirty to him in French, so she'd torture him this way.

Not even half way through, she had zonked out, curled up resting on top of Morgan as they shared the couch. Without a word Derek shut off the movie, and got up off the couch, carrying Pen to the bedroom. She had long ago showered and changed into her pajamas so that was taken care of. He pulled the sheet and a light blanket up over her and then climbed into bed on his side. He slept curled up behind Pen, one armed only lightly draped around her waist, he didn't want her to freak out in the middle of the night, but he had to hold on to her….he couldn't bear the thought of her disappearing again.

But here she was at just after 3:20a.m., coming out of the bathroom, having scrubbed down again, and scrubbed so hard that her skin was now red as far as Derek could see. Derek shook his head and sighed. He knew, depending on how bad things were for her while she was being held by Jake and the others that it might be a while before she was back to being anything like her old self…and even then there may be some tell-tale differences.

Derek sat up as she re-entered the room, leaning against the headboard.

"Oh. You're awake. I'm sorry I thought you were out cold….I didn't mean to wake you." Pen said in a quiet voice.

"You have nothing to apologize for Baby Girl. You have to do what's right for you, if you take 12 showers a day, if that's what makes you feel better, then do it, until you no longer feel like you have to. I will still be here when you get out."

Right about now, he was feeling like a real bastard though, he knew he had to put his foot down and make her talk it out, at least some of it, or she would clam up for good and they would never get the entire story, and she may never find a way back to her old self. It had been several days since everything happened; talking about at least a portion of it shouldn't be too much to ask….he just didn't want to push her too far. _What am I going to do to get her to talk?_ Morgan kept thinking to himself.

"Baby, come on back over here with me, we can sit up for a while and just…..I want to talk about what happened. I don't want to force you to talk about anything that you don't want to talk about. But some of it has to come out sometime….even if it's just small bits….just something. It doesn't even matter what it's about. But it's not going to help you to keep everything inside."

Penelope dropped her head, looking at the floor, standing three feet from the bed.

"Do I really have to? Ordinarily she and I and the other girls talk to each other and hash things out….can't I just wait and talk to the girls?"

"I would really like for you to talk to me, at least a little bit, tonight." He could see the anxiety building up in her eyes. "If you would really like to wait though, I can wait. Maybe you can go out with Alecta tomorrow night or the next day and have a girl's day out doing whatever it is you ladies get around to doing. And, I will wait on you for however long you want."

"Okay. Can we go back to bed now?"

Morgan nodded that they could indeed go back to sleep. Luckily they still had some time left over from their 'vacation', nearly a week's worth, so he didn't have to worry about lack of sleep on the job…not that that was even a thought in his head currently. On the contrary, Pen was the only thing he had been able to think of or see for days. Crawling back into bed, Derek sincerely hoped that Alecta or one of the girls was able to make headway with Garcia.

************************************CM**********************************************

After breakfast with Rossi and Mrs. King, Hotch and Alecta had gone out shopping after all. They had thought about going to see some of the historical sites around town, but Alecta had seen almost all of them at least twice already and wasn't really impressed with them in the first place. The ones she wanted to go see were at least a day's travel, if not more, in one direction.

They hit the big mall down town. Alecta had to admit that seeing Hotch dressed casually was a switch. Even after being around each other this past week or so she still always thought of him in his suits at work. Hotch in a black leather jacket, blue t-shirt, his jeans, and a pair of tennis shoes was an awkward sight…..not a bad sight…just awkward.

"So do I call you Aaron today?" Alecta said with a smirk.

"You can call me what you want when you want." Hotch arched an eyebrow and smiled back at her.

"Smart ass."

They rode the rest of the way to the mall in silence, almost.

"I don't even know how to shop really.' Turning to Hotch, "What am I even going to shop for?"

"Don't worry, we'll find something that you like I'm sure." Hotch smiled at her as he turned back to his driving.

"If you say so."

Once they arrived at the mall they walked around for maybe 20 minutes before she settled on a store to dive into. She was starting to get frustrated rather quickly though.

"Lex, what's wrong? You're getting all worked up."

"Nothing in this store will fit me."

"Everything will fit you, you must be exaggerating."

"Boss….Aaron…I mean…the tags say they are my size, but I can tell you right now, that if I try this blouse on, it might fit me through the waist, if it ever makes it past my rack."

Hotch laughed out loud when he saw her face, her eyes went wide with shock, "I said that out loud didn't I?"

Hotch could only nod, a grin still on his face, "Yes, yes you did."

"Grrrrr….well it's the truth. And those jeans, will never make it past my ass. I told you I have to have nearly all my clothes tai…..OOOH! Jackpot!"

She darted over to a couple of racks that had larger sizes of clothes, not larger by much, but something more 'normally' built human beings wore.

"The pants a little long, but so what, I can either have them hemmed up or just roll with it."

Hotch shook his head ruefully. On a woman JJ's height or the height of Alecta's daughter Rachel, the pants would have fit nearly perfectly. But since Alecta was nearly six inches shorter than either one of them, they would make her look like a child playing dress up in her older sister's clothes.

By the time that Hotch had snapped out of this thought, Alecta had managed to scrounge up 10 or 12 different things to try on; for somebody that didn't know how to shop, she could fake it really well. She had even managed to find a really gorgeous (at least he thought so) rosy pink blouse that had low cut cleavage with a bit of a cowl neck, it was sleeveless, so she could wear it in warmer weather or with a jacket….he couldn't wait to see it on her, especially when she paired it with those dress pants she picked up…one pair was black and one pair was a chocolaty brown. He knew for a fact she had a jacket that would go well with either pair.

"Hold this." Alecta shoved her purse at him as well as her sunglasses and took off for a dressing room.

Hotch took a seat in a chair near the dressing rooms and waited for her to figure out what she wanted.

"Your girlfriend is quite a character,' a sales associate said to him after helping Alecta find her dressing room.

Without even missing a beat, 'You have no idea." Hotch smiled back at the lady, causing her to chuckle lightly as she walked away.

A few minutes passed and nothing….Alecta never came out of the dressing room.

"Hurry up, I want to see what it all looks like."

"I don't do that in public Mr. I'm not an exhibitionist. Besides, if you see all of it at one time, how am I supposed to keep you tripping over the floor? You know I love it when you can't even walk straight."

Hotch started turning beet red in the face….people were starting to look at them funny….God only knows what all of these people thought they were talking about. And that damned little minx, she was laughing. It was quiet, but he could hear her giggles. She knew she was putting him on the spot.

"Although I will say I think I have found my next pair of 'ass' jeans, so you should maybe pad the furniture at your house…."

More giggles.

"There will be payback when we get home."

"Sure there will be. Talk, talk, talk. Alright, I'm coming out, if you laugh, I'm kicking you in the shins….because that's usually as high as I can reach unless properly motivated."

Hotch could only shake his head, face still red, tears almost rolling down his cheeks from trying so hard not to laugh out loud.

All the funny of the situation was knocked out of him though when she stepped out of the dressing room and came out to where he could see her. She was in the brown pants and the pink blouse….the blouse fit like a glove; Hotch knew he was in serious trouble.

Not seeming to notice, Alecta was looking herself over, 'The pants need to be altered, or they will fall off, but I had to get something that would fit over all the junk back here." One hand still held the waist band of the pants to keep them from falling completely off of her…which if it hadn't been for the fact that they were in a public place, would have been just dandy by Hotch.

"Ooh! What size is that dress?" There was a dress hanging on a rack not too far away. It was in shades of blues and greens. There was a Middle Eastern sort of flare to it. It had spaghetti straps, and….It was becoming apparent she was trying to kill him.

"What size do you need?"

"It doesn't matter.' Alecta slouched onto the small bench in the dressing room. "It's not like they have it in my size anyway."

Hotch looked around, not seeing anybody much around, he walked in and sat on the edge of the bench beside her. 'What's wrong? I know that tone of voice."

"Nothing's wrong. Nothing whatever. Let's go, there are more stores to hit here. Get out. I have to change back into my own clothes." She gave him an impish smile that she hoped he bought, and it seemed to work. He began to leave the dressing room.

Turning back to glance at her over his shoulder as he left the room, 'This discussion isn't over."

Alecta just arched a brow at him, 'Whatever you say."

Hotch knew he was going to have his work cut out for him. She didn't always like to talk about what was bothering her. He may have to just let her come to him when she was ready. Anytime she said 'whatever you say' what she really meant was 'come at me bro'.

During their time shopping they meandered through several other stores before coming upon a store that sold everything under the sun ever created for a baby.

"Why don't we stop in here for a few minutes and see what they have?" Hotch posed the question as carefully as possible. Alecta looked up at him with a little bit of shock in her eyes.

"For real?"

"Yes, for real."

"Well alright. But we aren't buying anything, I don't have anywhere to put it."

"Yes, actually you do."

Alecta looked at him like he'd gone off his rocker.

"My place. You're staying there. Why not?"

"I can't stay there indefinitely. Eventually I will have to get my own place, and then there will be all this packing and junk."

"Why can't you stay?"

"Trust me, you don't wanna be stuck with me indefinitely…."

"What if I did? Want to be stuck with you indefinitely, I mean."

"Then I'd tell you to see about getting some medication for that. I told you before….I'm not a safe, normal girl. I was never the head cheerleader that dated the captain of the football team. I was the 'accident prone' kid that those little snots pushed down the stairs at school. I'm not the kind of girl most men are proud to show off to their friends and families. I've been bought and sold more times than blue chip stocks. Currently I have six children from three different fathers. I am my own Maury Povich segment, the only thing that makes me any better than women that go on that show is that I actually do know who the fathers are.

There are days on end when I don't eat or sleep because I can't….My mind is somewhere else…on a case or whatever….I am more robotic than human some days…I keep going 'til I just crash basically. Except for lately; I think this pregnancy is slowing me down. Jury's still out on whether that's a good thing or not…."

"Jury returned with a verdict. It's a very good thing. You can't keep going at break-neck speeds forever."

"You haven't seen one of the bad nightmares. The one last night was a merely a preview. They have been bad enough in the past that, not only do I wake up screaming my lungs out, but I have been known to piss the bed while I do it. I'm almost 40; do you know how embarrassing that is to have to say?"

"I can help you change the sheets."

"You're not listening."

"Your arguments are not valid. There's little that you can say or do to change my mind. If I want you to stay around, outside of you just flat out saying 'NO', there isn't much you can do to change how I feel."

"What about Jack? Am I the kind of woman you want around him? How would he feel about you bringing a woman that he barely knows to live in the house all of the sudden?"

"He loves you. And he loves Sofie and Emma. He thinks it's fun to have all these extra kids around to play with."

Hotch watched her shake her head and sigh….

"I can talk to him if you want me to, see what he thinks…But I know he's going to love it. He's growing fond of your stories, you know the clean versions. I think he looks at you and your friends sort of like comic book super heroes. Sort of like 'The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen'."

"Oh God. It is bad, you're using the kid against me. That's low."

"You've left me little choice." Hotch smiled at her slightly.

"I see, good sir, that you are not above subterfuge."

"I like it when you call me 'Sir'…."

"Don't get used to it; it was like, one of them Freudian slip kinda things."

"Sure it was."

"Shut up, we have shopping to do…You're falling down on your teaching duties."

They made their way through the baby store; they mainly focused on some of the furniture, considering Alecta didn't even know what she was having yet.

"Do you think it's going to be a boy or a girl?" Hotch asked her as he took a sip of the drink he got when they swung past the food court.

Pinching off a bite of the huge soft pretzel Hotch had bought her, 'I think it'll probably be a Volkswagen."

"No, seriously."

"You think I'm joking? I shit you not. I have huge babies. Rachel was just slightly above average when she was born. Sasha and Eva were both nice sized, and they were premies. If I remember correctly, they were both around 8lbs."

"And you said they were premies?"

"Yes, born about a month, maybe 1 ½ months early. And they were both about 22 inches long. God only knows how damned big they would have been if they went full term. The doctor would have had to pry them out with a pound of butter and a crowbar. And my darling boy, Oleg, he was the biggest baby I have had by far. He weighed in at 14lbs and 22inches long, and I nearly had my tubes tied 'johnny on the spot'. I woulda done it myself if the doctor hadn't stopped me. Sofie and Emma weren't so bad. Surprisingly, since they were twins, they went almost to full term; but still, the two of them together didn't weigh as much as my baby boy did. I don't think either one of them even hit 6lbs. My little teacup babies….so now it's time for a moose again."

"What about this crib?"

It was a beautiful cherry crib….the dark wood had a beautiful grain to it…there was a matching changing table and a little chest of drawers that went with it. It was convertible, so when the baby out grew the crib it could be changed into a toddler bed, and then later on into a twin bed for when the child was older.

"Ya know, I don't think that any of my other kids ever had a crib….at least not one of their own. When Rachel was a baby and we still lived at Heather's house, I would let her sleep on my bed, with the pillows that I had accumulated piled around her to keep her from falling out…."

"Where did you sleep?"

"Duh, on the floor, at the foot of the bed."

She kept circling the set, as well as checking out a couple other pieces close by. She continued to talk a little more as she went.

"Sasha and Eva shared a crib that had belonged in Impatiev's family for a while. It was old, Eastern European design, not even up to any kind of code at the time….and Oleg slept in it, too….it was a lovely old crib….but it was sooo old."

"What about Sofie and Emma?"

"We were staying in Istanbul at the time that I had them….my contact lived in one of the old neighborhoods in the city…..small living quarters….they slept in two drawers that were part of the cupboards in my room. They had to sleep in those old rickety drawers for months before it was safe enough to smuggle them into the States."

She came back over to the cherry set of furniture…

"The only baby I ever had that ever had his own crib was…."

She stopped mid-sentence, it was like she almost forgot for a moment.

"Um, look, we should get going." She grabbed Hotch by the hand and started dragging him out of the store.

"But don't you want…"

"I'm getting tired and hungry…."

Hotch only nodded. Luckily, while she had been talking, he had the forethought to write down the item numbers of the pieces that she seemed to like the most….and he had noticed her eyeballing some of the decorations as well….the crib gear...he snapped a few quick pictures with his cell phone for later. He would have to talk to Rossi and the team about this later. She was going to have a real nursery with a real crib for this baby if it killed him.

They had gone to have an early dinner; Mexican…she seemed to be craving it. Hotch had learned the hard way to not to come between a pregnant woman and a craving, it could get ugly. He had called over to JJ's and talked to Jack for a few minutes and checked to make sure he had been behaving himself.

"Of course Jack has been behaving,' Alecta poked Hotch in the ribs when he hung up the phone. "I've never known the kid to be anything less than an absolute angel since I met him….meaning, don't leave him around Sofie and Emma for too long. Emma isn't so bad on her own. But Sofie….she's enough to drive a preacher wild."

"A family trait?"

"Don't you know it."

They ate until Alecta thought she would bust wide open. Hotch had never seen her eat so much.

"So the kid's into Mexican. Who knew? So the little jumping bean likes Mexican food and Sushi….Lord is this kid gonna be screwed up or what…..No worse than Sofie and Emma. They are fluent in Russian and have a love affair with Middle-Eastern food that Ajax can't wash away."

They had made it back to Hotch's apartment by 6pm. Alecta got a quick shower and changed into her pajamas. She really was tired after all, that much had been the truth. Hotch went ahead and did the same thing after she finished. While she watched a little TV, Hotch would email his brother, Sean and a couple old college buddies that he still kept in touch with from time to time.

Alecta was sitting on the sofa next to Hotch; she had found some old silent movie that was on. She kept the volume turned down on the low side; the background music on these things was usually atrocious. Hotch had looked up from what he was doing at the time and noticed that the lead actress in the film was a dead ringer for Alecta. It was nearing the end of the film….the title of which was 'The Plastic Age'. The female lead was Clara Bow. He'd have to ask Reid or Garcia about it. Looking down, he noticed that Alecta had dozed off sometime during the film laying her head against his chest, one arm draped around his waist.

Smiling a bit to himself, he maneuvered around until he was able to put away his laptop and pick her up carefully, trying not to wake her. It was only 9:30 at night. But she had had a stressful few days lately, and with the insomnia she sometimes was known to suffer, she needed the extra rest.

Hotch carried her to the bed and laid her in it, having shut the TV off before leaving the living room. He remembered to put her on the side away from the door. Curling into bed beside Alecta, Hotch turned out his bedside lamp and wrapped an arm around her, settling his head on the same pillow with her.

As he fell asleep, Hotch couldn't quite help the smile on his face as he thought about the surprise he was going to plan for her.

**POST AN: Ok…could have been longer, but….them's the breaks. There is actually a movie called 'The Plastic Age'…and Clara Bow was actually in it. Look it up…she was pretty freaking cool. Let's see where the next chapter takes us shall we.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Chpt 17**

"**I have absolutely no pleasure in the stimulants in which I sometimes so madly indulge. It has not been in the pursuit of pleasure that I have periled life and reputation and reason. It has been the desperate attempt to escape from torturing memories, from a sense of insupportable loneliness and a dread of some strange impending doom." ( Edgar Allan Poe)**

"**The most terrible poverty is loneliness, and the feeling of being unloved." ( Mother Teresa)**

Morgan's house, 10am, it came awfully early considering how many times Pen had gotten up to shower over-night.

Morgan had gotten up to fix them breakfast. He was BLT's for them both; Penelope might have been a vegetarian for the most part, but nobody could withstand the allure of bacon.

Pen came padding down the stairs in some sweat pants and a t-shirt, both of which belonged to him. As far as Derek Morgan was concerned, she was too damned cute. Pen hopped up on her stool at the breakfast bar in Morgan's kitchen. She waited quietly while he got their plates set out and the food on them. Once he sat down, Pen looked at her food and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly.

"Derek, I don't want to wait around to talk to the girls about this first….it would be different if an incident came across one of my babies that I had to contact them about…but this is about me personally and it has always been left up to each of us to talk about what happened to us whenever we see fit.

We're sleeping together now, if I can't tell you what's going on in my head, who can I tell?"

Garcia proceeded to tell him everything…not just what had happened when she and Alecta had gone missing…but also about what had happened all those years before. It took a fair amount of time to get the story told, it went back over 20 years for crying out loud. And Morgan was quite sure Penelope had chosen to tell as much of the whole truth as possible. She wasn't sure how many more sleepless nights like last night she could take, and she knew it wasn't fair to Derek.

As she continued to talk they cleaned up the breakfast dishes, after which they cuddled up on the couch and Garcia kept talking some more. It seemed that once she started, she couldn't stop. That was fine by Derek. Whatever made Penelope feel better, and got this out of her system and got her on the road to getting back to her old self was totally alright by Morgan's standards.

"I remember they made her watch the things they did to us. Sometimes they had her in the same room, handcuffed to a pole so she couldn't take off. There were times when they had left the house that she would try to bring us food and water….there was never very much food. I asked her once where she had gotten it, because I knew she wasn't allowed to leave the house…it was summer and school was out. She told me that it had been brought for her to have lunch or dinner depending on the time of day…..she told me there wasn't food in the house, so she saved what they gave her and brought it to us. Derek, she was so little. You see how tiny she is now. She was 15 at the time, and I'm not even sure she was as tall as she is today or if she even weighed as much…and she was pregnant. You could see her baby belly. One day those men came back and caught her passing us the food and drink. They beat her so bad; she would just curl up in a ball and try to protect her head and stomach from all the hits and the kicks. They had thrown her against the wall so hard at one time that she couldn't stand up to walk out of the room…..Years later, when she and I discussed those days briefly, she told me that hitting the wall that hard had cracked her tail bone.

I'm not sure how she was able to walk, and be in such pain, the day that she came to cut me lose and take me to the cops….I knew that I couldn't let her go back to that house. If just bringing us food had gotten her beatings like that, then what would happen to her for helping one of us escape?"

Curled up resting her head against Morgan's chest, an arm around his waist, Pen was watching part of a baseball game that Morgan had turned it on to.

"Do you think that Davis will ever come clean about what she went through? I mean, even if she doesn't tell everything to Hotch, do you think she would at least talk to one of us?" Derek asked, squeezing Pen a little closer, twirling a lock of her hair between his fingers.

"I'd like to think that she would tell Hotch. Hotch, the poor old fool, has done a perfectly lovely swan dive into an empty pool on that. It's just that she has gone so long without anyone to care for her….and lately some of the people she has counted on the most are just….."

"Disappearing?"

"Yeah." Garcia sounded so sad when she thought of Alecta being so lonely. Morgan could see it in her eyes. The things that had happened in that house all those years ago….If Jake wasn't dead already, Morgan would gladly have beaten him to death, slowly, over time…making sure that he broke every bone in the man's body before it was over.

****************************************CM****************************************

Aaron Hotchner was still lying in the bed, he wasn't sure what time it was; he'd fallen asleep around 10pm, not too long after Alecta. He'd been watching her sleep. He was pretty sure that he had nearly memorized the way every curl was shaped as it fell either onto his pillow or her shoulder, or even across her face. He had memorized how fine her eyelashes were while her eyes were closed…the way her lips formed a Cupid's bow. He didn't want to stare, but usually she wasn't this still, she was always in motion…she never stopped. If Hotch didn't know her better, he would think she did it on purpose, to avoid anyone being able to get too close to her and ask to many quest….Actually, he could still be on to something there.

Suddenly, he felt weight shifting on the bed. There was weight that was pressing onto him. He wasn't sure if he should move or not. If it was an intruder, he should move, and quickly. But he was pretty sure it wasn't an intruder. He was certain he knew exactly who was moving in his bed. He kept his eyes closed, he wanted to know what she was up to, but he didn't want to startle her either.

The next thing he knew was that there was a pressure against his lips. He could tell that Alecta had moved to where she was astride him a bit, and she had kissed him; he knew that much without having to open his eyes. Something else he knew without opening his eyes was that, she better move soon or this was going to be damned awkward. Hotch wasn't sure that there was a man in his right mind that wouldn't trade places with him immediately….Either one of her legs on either side of his waist, the largest _real_ breasts he'd ever seen a woman this petite in his life—currently, they were pressed against him—while she tried to sneak and give him a kiss; she was failing at the whole *sneaking* part, her hair was tickling him….any man that wouldn't trade places with him was a liar. And the thing was that there had been nothing overtly sexual that had taken place. But Hotch knew that could change in a matter of seconds if she didn't get off of him quick. He knew it like he knew his name….and he didn't want to freak her out.

Hotch knew she wasn't going to move without provocation. She still doubted just exactly how he felt about her…he was going to have to do something that made her move. When she leaned over to place another kiss on his lips, he had his chance. He began to kiss her back!

When Alecta realized that Hotch was awake and was kissing her back, she had already vaulted her legs back over him to try to jump out of the bed; but Hotch caught her by her wrists just as she was about to make a break for it. It seems as though his reflexes were getting better around her. After the last few weeks of getting to know her, Hotch had gained the reflexes of a cat.

Having grabbed her by her wrists as she was about to dash, Hotch sat up in the bed, finally opening his eyes, rubbing the sleep out of one of them with one hand, while keeping a grip on Alecta with the other. He looked at her and saw the shocked expression on her face. Her cheeks had flushed an incredible red color. He'd rarely seen her blush, usually she was the one leaving everyone else red faced….it was kinda cute. Well, it would have been cute if the look in her eye hadn't been full of fear.

Alecta was scared she was in trouble.

"What are you doing?" Hotch just came out and asked her.

Hotch still hasn't let go of Alecta's wrists, and she was still trying to pull them free. Her eyes were wide, she hadn't thought about getting caught. Hotch was pretty sure he could almost hear her heart pounding in her chest.

"N-nothing….."

"Lex…" Hotch arched an eyebrow, letting her know he didn't buy it for one second.

"It was stupid of me….I didn't…...it's just that you've been trying awfully hard to prove that what you say is true….I just thought that….one little kiss couldn't hurt."

"That explains the first one; but, what about the second one?"

"It was just in case I didn't do it right the first time." Alecta had been looking down towards the comforter, not sure she should look him dead in the eye or not. Without lifting her head she merely looked up at him from the corner of her left eye. She could tell by the bemused look on his face that he really didn't by this excuse either.

"No, I swear…' she saw him still smirking at her. "You don't have to be so damned smug."

"First of all, you don't have to give me any form of payback for anything that I do for you. Secondly, there was nothing wrong with that first kiss…it was quite good as a matter of fact. Thirdly, now I am awake and would like another."

Alecta had looked up at him and taken a deep breath, and let it out slowly. She was thinking it over. Hotch knew if he let her go on too long, she would over think the whole thing. He was going to have to take matters into his own hands if this was ever going anywhere.

Hotch took her chin in one hand, still keeping a grasp on one of her wrists with his other hand…..He was pulling her closer to him….

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done it." With that she managed to twist her arm free from his grasp and finally made it off of the bed. She started to head for the bedroom door….Hotch had to do something quick.

"Why don't you trust me?" It was dirty pool, but he'd do what he had to do to keep her close by him.

Alecta stopped in her tracks, her shoulders slumped, her head dropped, her eyes staring at the floor. She looked like Hotch had just beaten her. He suddenly felt his stomach plummet when he realized just how low a blow that was to hit her with.

Without turning around, 'S'got nothing to do with whether I trust you or not…well not that much."

"Then what is it? I have tried everything I know to make you understand exactly how I feel about you. And I'm not getting through…."

"And I really am beginning to believe you. I swear that I am. But…."

"If you believe me, how can there be a 'but'?'

"This is how you feel _now_. What happens after…? What happens if you were to finally get what you want from me? What then?" She still hadn't turned to face him. "While I string you along, I'm a challenge. I'm interesting as long as I am just out of reach. But what happens if…."

Hotch could hear all of her self-doubt just about seep out of every pore.

"Lex, what is it?"

"When you put me in the same room with other women, accomplishment wise, I do well enough. I can leap tall buildings in a single bound. I've been known to stop bullets from time to time. I have walked into veritable war zones…gone to places angels fear to tread….I've saved a few lives in my day. I don't need to read the book, I lived it.

But, when you take away all the things I've done, what's left? I'm nothing without my theme music and my cape. I'm not a real mother. Apparently, I'm not much as a real daughter or wife either….."

"How in the hell could you think that?"

"You can't be serious. My life is one big joke. I had people that I worked with everyday laughing at me behind my back, making bets about how long it would take a colleague to get into my bed. Just for fun sometimes, daddy would tie me down to the bed, while I was sleeping, and toss spiders or roaches onto me. I would wake up feeling the damned things crawling on me; he and his friends would be sitting there with beers in their hands _laughing_ while I tried to get free and keep from screaming.

That's all I am…a game." She only shrugged her shoulders ever so slightly. If Hotch hadn't studied everything about her, he would have missed it. He noticed that although she had turned back towards him she never looked him in the eye.

Just like before, Hotch realized he would have to take matters into his own hands. He stepped closer to her; she had to have been deep in thought, she didn't even try to stop him. He placed both hands on either side of her face, leaned over to a point where he could easily reach her and kissed the hell out of her. And the kiss didn't start out at all gentle; Hotch was out to prove a point. If she wouldn't listen to the words that came out of his mouth, he had to find a different way to get his point across. At first, Alecta had brought her hands up with the intention of stopping this madness, but around about the time Hotch's tongue slid into her mouth all she managed to do was rest her hands on top of his where they were on either side of her face. '_This is different.'_ She thought quickly to herself.

It wasn't until Hotch was sure that he had her undivided attention that the kiss had softened up into something a bit…more. The first contact between their lips had been almost pushy. Hotch had to shut her up and short circuit that brain of hers from thinking these completely idiotic thoughts about how she was nowhere near good enough for a man like him….or for any man period. And Hotch being as astute as he is, figured there was only one way to do that…and grab the bull by the horns. After he was sure that particular mission was accomplished, he could then lighten up a bit, kiss her in the way that showed her that he really did love her and he was willing to put up with her foibles and whatever else she threw at him.

As he kissed her, he began turning the bus around, backing her up towards the bed. Once they were close enough he began to nudge her to get her to sit back on it….she wasn't cooperating at all….she had managed to nearly do a back bend, placing her hands down on the mattress, keeping her from making that final tumble….

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" she asked him quietly.

"Yes. I have to prove to you that every word I say is the truth, at least as far as you're concerned."

Her arms were getting tired. Aaron Hotchner was every bit of 6'2, at least. And he had to weigh, maybe about 160-165lbs, roughly…he was getting freaking heavy.

"You're sure? I mean….Am I….you really want….you want to do this….me?"

Hotch merely nodded, not taking his eyes off of hers, not even blinking.

"Well then…." Still bearing the weight on her arms, she wrapped her legs around his waist and used some unknown momentum to propel them onto the bed; but upon landing, Hotch realized he was on the mattress and she was sitting astride him with an impish grin on her face.

"If that's the case, you're about to learn why I was once called 'Show Stopper'. Care to make a tiny little wager?" She had leaned in close to him, those breasts that he couldn't wait to get his hands (among other things) on were yet again pressed against his chest, and she gave the naughtiest little wiggle of her hips, earning a deep gasp from Hotch.

"And what are we betting on?"

"You'll scream before I do." There was that mischievous wink. Oh dear, this was the living legend. This was the Alecta that had walked into some seedy little Russian beer dive, and scared three quarters of the men in the room. He hadn't forgotten that look. Hotch got the distinct impression that he was suddenly on the menu.

Knowing that whatever she was plotting in her devious little head….she had begun to remove his shirt for him…apparently he wasn't moving fast enough….

"What do I get if I win?"

"Who said you were winning?"

"But what if I do?"

"I really don't think you stand a chance…."

"Lexa? What do I get if I win?"

"All these questions….You're starting to sound like Reid."

"Don't mention other men's names when you're in bed on top of one."

"Reid."

"Lex…"

"Morgan…"

"Lex!"

"Ooh! Rossi…" This evil little harpy was giggling fully at this turn of events. Hotch smacked her on the left cheek soundly…

"Aw, then again, there may be hope of you winning after all."

"Alright, then…What do I get if I lose?"

"Same thing you get if you win."

"Which is?"

"God you're thick….ME." she had started untying the drawstring of his sweat pants, his shirt already being flung to Outer Mongolia.

Rolling them over until she was on the bottom, 'That won't be the last time you say that."

"What? Me?"

"You little shit." He ground against her, a wicked gleam in his own eye.

"Oh, yes, that. Well, is it time for show and tell or are we going to split hairs all day? I always suspected there was more to you than just a suit and tie."

"You have no idea."

"Uh, yeah I do. That thing ya just did…"

"That one,' he ground against her again.

"And you called me evil….' She had brought her knees up almost to her elbows, hooking her big toe around the waist band of his pants, she lowered her legs, taking the pants down as she went.

"Hey, wait a minute….How did I wind up in my birthday suit and you're still fully clothed?"

"Slow poke. I put the whammy on you. You were blinded."

"Uh huh." He leaned down and began kissing her again; he had to out maneuver her 'girls', they were cresting the top of her pajama top.

While they kissed some more he managed to help her wriggle out of her top. Seeing that she still wore a bra, even to bed, he gave her a funny look, "You didn't actually think these things controlled themselves, did you? Silly man."

He never said a word. He merely stared in fascination at the 'girls' that were encased in the shamrock green lacy bra. He must have stared a little too long, Alecta began getting nervous and began reaching for her pajama top which was still in his had to her right. She craned her neck around as she reached for it.

"This was a bad idea, we should be…"

"Hush.' Hotch tossed the pajama top away in the same general direction as his had flown in a few moments earlier. "You're not wearing red? And these are rather nice." He gestured to Alecta's breasts. "You just stumped me for a second, that's all."

"By the feel of things I have stumped you pretty damned hard." Alecta had reached down and wrapped her hand around him. Her hand didn't completely circle his shaft. "I was under the impression that green was your favorite color."

"You want to put that where?" she asked slightly exasperated when she realized just how well-endowed Hotch really was.

Hotch would have laughed if he could have; but at the moment, there was a tiny hand wrapped around his manly parts, and that was as serious as it got. He couldn't do anything more than allow another gasp to pass between them as he felt her hand on him. "If my aim is decent it should go right…about….there."

It was her turn to draw in a quick gasp. Hotch had lowered his hand below the waistband of her little track shorts that she had used as pajama bottoms, two fingers sliding inside of her just as a tease.

"Dirty pool, old man."

"That's the pot calling the kettle black. But, for now, you have to keep your hands up here,' Hotch told her, placing her hands up near her head. "You're still wearing too many clothes, and I don't need you trying to distract me while I fix the problem."

Alecta was never one to play fair, she didn't believe in the practice, especially not when it came down to getting her way. Playing fair was for sissies. Instead of keeping her hands where Hotch had asked her to, she managed to roll them back over so that she was back on top.

"Hello, Kettle." Alecta tugged her bottom lip between her teeth as she giggled. She began to lean over, her hair toppling past her shoulders and pooling on Hotch's chest.

"Why thank you Pot, you've made my job ever so much easier." Hotch managed to get her shorts off only to find she had a pair of boy cut undies on that matched the bra she wore, 'shamrock' green…lacy…Somehow, they were even sexier than thongs were on women. With a thong there wasn't a lot left to the imagination…..these seemed to highlight the fact that she had the best ass on her that Hotch had ever seen on a woman. Once the track shorts were off, Alecta suddenly jumped off the bed, and consequently, Hotch….he was left, sitting up, leaning back on his elbows.

"What are you up to?"

She was darting across the bedroom, her hair had floated down around her waist as she jumped off of him; he never got tired of watching her, she turned to the side slightly, 'I'll be right back, I promise…."

With that she turned back to her original plans, running through the room into the bathroom. Hotch wouldn't have been able to move from the bed if the Director of the FBI had personally called him into work. If the Director had the view that Hotch just had he wouldn't move a muscle either. Every curve on her body was on near perfect display in the little underwear set that she was wearing; and that color green against her pale skin and dark hair….and her lips had that color to them that still told the story of that kiss he had put on her. Hotch was pretty damned sure he was about to hit the lottery. Alecta's looks were hard to explain on a normal day. At first glance she came across as the girl next door; she was the girl that played on your neighborhood sandlot baseball team…the skinned knees and pigtails. On the other hand, she was exotic looking; her dark hair and eyes, such a marked contrast to her alabaster skin. Hotch could almost see the Eastern Bazars, smell the spices and hear the sounds of her beloved Istanbul or Marrakech. He'd made up his mind that he would make her take him one day.

He was thinking so much about it all that he didn't seem to notice when she came back from the bathroom until she vaulted back onto the bed, back straddling his hips as he still sat up….

"No thinking allowed in here Agent Hotchner….it's highly over rated."

"Hmmm."

"Now you have my undivided attention…."

Whatever else she was going to say was cut off; Hotch took her up on that offer of undivided attention. He gave her another one of those kisses. His tongue made its way into her mouth, as hers reciprocated. They kissed each other until they had no choice but to break for air. Instead of stopping though, Hotch merely made his way down the column of her throat. He took his own sweet time; her throat, like the rest of her was short, but it lead to her delicate collar bone, which lead to those narrow shoulders that had carried so much weight over the years without giving out.

As he kissed his way closer to her cleavage, he wrapped his arms around her holding her to him tightly as he buried his face between her breasts. She ran her hands through his hair, making even his scalp tingle before running her hands down as much of his back as she could reach. While his hands were running down her back he managed to finagle the clasp of her bra loose.

As he worked the straps of said bra down her shoulders, he felt her tense up a bit, 'What's going through that head of yours?"

"It's nothing…nothing at all."

He looked up from sucking on her collar bone, close to where it lead down to those fabulous breasts of hers, 'You're lying to a master profiler…" Hotch looked into her eyes for just a second and could still see some worry and indecision in them…and fear, he still saw fear in them.

What was she afraid of?

Shrugging, 'Look at me being so ridiculous. You're butt-ass naked, and I'm well on my way….as you were." Alecta offered what she hoped was a convincing smirk

Hotch never let her bra slide down any further, 'What are you scared of?"

"I'm just being a total dork. It's nothing, it's stupid really." When she realized he wasn't likely to give up his line of questioning, she leaned in, kissing him in the forceful way he had done her earlier to get her back on track…she lowered the bra the rest of the way for him, since he was being so stubborn…She knew what would make him shut up; while she kissed him, she grabbed for his hands and put them upon her own breasts. There wasn't a man alive that could say no to that; that's what God put them there for, to give a woman yet one more way to win an argument. And it seemed as though she was suddenly the front runner in this little discussion.

Once Hotch realized he would not get her to talk about anything in this current scenario, he gave in; he'd be a fool to turn her away now. And his momma had been a lot of things to a lot of people, she had raised two sons….she however, never once, raised a fool.

Since his hands had been so conveniently placed, he began rubbing her nipples, then pinching them slightly….he figured she must have liked it when she tackled him back to the bed, holding his hands back up beside his head and kissing him hard again all while she ground her hips against his.

"We're gonna be at this all day at this rate…."

"Now see, that's your problem."

"Do tell."

Hotch had managed to, quite easily, remove his wrists from Alecta's grasp; just like when she had her hand wrapped around his cock, her hands didn't make it quite all the way around his wrists either. '_Oh, I'm going to have fun with her_', Hotch thought to himself.

"You're so used to things happening so fast…..Your relationship with Yuri. You said it yourself that pretty much everything about that relationship seemed to happen quickly. You met, within months you were planning to get married, and having kids…it took nearly no time at all as far as relationships go. And not to mention your attitude during a case, whether it is FBI or one of your own cases….

You need to learn to slow down a little bit and enjoy yourself. Like….this…"

As he finished his sentence, Hotch had slipped his tongue into her mouth, kissing her deeply, distracting her. She didn't even realize what had happened until he had rolled her over onto her back and she heard the click of the handcuffs.

"No! Lemme go. Please, lemme go." She began to struggle against the cuffs. At first Hotch was nonchalant about it all.

"You have to learn to take your time….take things a little slower…"

"Please, lemme go. I'll do whatever you want, just lemme go!"

Hotch took a closer look, she was pulling so hard against the cuffs; she had managed to sit up a bit and was now yanking in earnest to get loose…

"I swear, I….lemme go!"

He could see that there were red marks already forming on her small wrists. Quickly he got his hands on the key to the cuffs, and un-cuffed her; tears were forming in her eyes and then sliding down her face as fast as he'd ever seen.

After being un-cuffed, Alecta launched herself at Hotch and wrapped her arms around him burying her face into his bare chest.

"I promise….I-I-I promise…just don…"

"I won't do it again." He could hear her sniffle, 'I promise I'll never do it again; I'm going to lock them in the safe over here." Hotch managed to unwrap himself from her and made his way over to his small personal safe and placed his cuffs and the key to them in the safe along with his sidearm.

He looked back at the bed, and she was sitting there, her hair in a bit of disarray, her arms crossed over what nudity he had already uncovered. She was in the process of calming down, but he could still see some tears that were streaming down her face. With only minimal light in the room, coming from a dim nightlight that he kept on in his master bathroom, she was still the most gorgeous thing he'd ever seen…and then he thought about the red rings around her wrists that he had inadvertently caused.

Hotch made his way back over to the bed in a quick few steps; sitting back up on the bed, he pulled Alecta to him and held her close, he kissed both of her wrists….

"I wasn't even thinking about how that would upset you. If you want to stop, I couldn't blame you…"

"Never said we have to stop….just not…."

"It'll never happen again."

"Okay then….I get to do this." Her recovery time was insane. She had flipped Hotch back over on his back again, 'Whoa! I guess it's a good thing you have a huge bed, we would be in the floor by now otherwise,' Alecta commented as they came to a sudden stop, almost on the very edge of the bed; Hotch had to grab her to keep her from toppling over. He really couldn't help but chuckle a bit at her. She was such an imp.

All laughing stopped on a dime when he felt her making her way down his body, ever so much closer to his cock.

"You don't have to do this, you know that right?"

"Scared you're gonna lose the bet boss man?' Alecta had never had a more mischievous look on her face since he'd met her….she had one hand around him, partially around him….and her lips were getting closer as the seconds ticked by.

"I was merely….Holy…" Hotch was rendered speechless. There were times in life he came across as a man of few words, because he'd rather let his actions speak for him, or he was trying to think clearly to get himself and his team out of a tight spot. _**This**_ was not one of those times.

Alecta had wrapped her lips around just the head, having used the tip of her tongue to lick around the divot on the very tip….she was still in her underwear, she had just the tip of his cock in her mouth, but she was already proving that in all likelihood, Hotch would not be winning this particular round.

He was doing his best to keep his responses moderate. He didn't want to make it so easy for her to win; but when she sucked extra hard, his back damn near bowed off of the bed. He let out a deep groan of 'Son of a Bitch', before he landed back on the bed again.

"And just think,' she said releasing the head of his cock from her mouth, 'I've barely even started. What will you do when I really get warmed up?"

"Die of a massive stroke."

"Good thing I got pointers from ol' Reid on stuff like CPR."

"What did I tell you about mentioning other men in the bed with me…."

"And you think I don't know a trick that could take care of your deflated _'ego'_?"

"I'm sure that you do."

"For doubting me….Morgan, Rossi, Will….ummm."

Hotch sat up quickly, 'What did I tell you would happen?"

"Prove it."

Soon enough Alecta heard a _SMACK!_ Hotch had spanked her ass, only the one time….he didn't want a repeat of the earlier fiasco with the handcuffs.

"That tickled." Alecta looked up at Hotch's face from her position down near his cock, her left eyebrow arched, a devilish gleam in her eye. Whatever rebuttal Hotch had planned was erased when she went back down on him….all the way….still sucking as she went.

He couldn't form a word either verbally or mentally; it's not like much could be said anyway….what does a man say to something like that except, '_Thank You God'_?

It only took a matter of minutes before Alecta had pushed Hotch entirely too close to the edge. Although he was impressed, he didn't want things to be over quite yet. And besides, he didn't want the first time they were together to be the time that he….not this time….

He sat up, grabbing for her, 'Not this way…."

"But, I was…." Alecta saw the look that Hotch gave her; it shut her up pretty quickly. She seemed to understand by the look in his eye what he meant. She only nodded. As she allowed him to hoist her up she tucked her feet up close to her body to keep them from flailing around, like she had the other night when they went to bed in the first place. Hotch lifted her up and set her back down farther up on the bed closer to him, laying her back against the pillow.

He settled himself down, the lower half of his body resting between her legs, 'You're still wearing too many clothes."

"Well, ya know, when you start getting old, things slow down."

Using his right hand Hotch grabbed at her left side, causing her to erupt in laughter, 'You little devil."

She couldn't stop laughing long enough to form a complete sentence; tears started streaming down her face for laughing so hard, 'You gotta stop. I'm ticklish. Stop it."

"Never."

"Uncle." Hotch leaned up to kiss her as he stopped tickling her; at the same time he managed to ditch her last bit of underwear. The next thing that Alecta had noticed was when two of his fingers entered her as he kept kissing her. He kept this little game up until she came hard, although she managed not to scream first…she made do with just letting out the dirtiest little moan against his ear as she did, biting his earlobe slightly. Alecta biting his earlobe caused him to shudder. '_What a harpy.'_ Hotch thought to himself, not for the first time today.

Before Alecta had been able to fully come down from that first orgasm, Hotch had already maneuvered around to the point that her legs were over his shoulders. He waited for eyes to focus, chuckling smugly for a moment before she was able to realize it. He'd spent weeks tripping over furniture and the floor because of her; it was about time that she got a dose of her own medicine.

Once she had managed to focus again, he heard her quietly ask him, 'What are you….? Oh."

She suddenly tried to wriggle away from him, backing up against the headboard as she went.

Hotch saw that her eyes were wide with curiosity and weariness, 'You've never had anyone that…?"

Before he even finished his question, Alecta was shaking her head 'No'.

"I promise you, you're going to like it." Alecta was watching him to see what he would do next. He knew what she expected him to do….He knew what she was waiting for to have happen; she had been trapped with Fletcher for years, she was conditioned to his ways.

"I swear you'll like it. You did it for me, and it was very nearly too damn good, I thought I'd return the favor; but it doesn't have to happen if you don't want it to." Hotch sat stock still on his knees in front of her, he didn't want her to think he'd go back on his word and trick her. Alecta had managed to grab the sheet and had pulled it over herself a bit to cover some of her nudity, still not altogether comfortable with him seeing every glaring detail of her body.

Hotch could see the wheels in her head turning. _If I say 'No' will he really let it go?_ He could tell that she was trying to figure out if he really meant it or if she was going to have to brace herself when he got angry because she pushed him away.

Alecta must've decided to trust him because she nodded at him that it was Ok to continue. Hotch grabbed her by the ankle that had been poking out from under the sheet and pulled her back down to where she had been to begin with.

As he wrapped her legs back over his shoulders, 'Even though I'm sure you'll like it, if you want to stop, all you have to do is say so."

He didn't want to make a big deal out of it at that moment and make her uncomfortable in the long run, but the fact that she had trusted him enough after everything she had gone through meant the absolute world to him….he would do whatever was in his power to make sure she knew that.

The weird thing about this was, when Hotch had been married to Hayley and even when he had dated Beth, oral sex wasn't really looked at as a big deal….either it happened or didn't; between the three of them neither one hated it, there was a sort of ambivalence towards it. Some nights it was done, some nights not. But knowing Alecta the way he knew her, knowing how much crap life had thrown at her, and she was still around kicking and screaming….and that she had trusted him this far…this time, it…oral, was a huge deal.

He had known that Hayley and Beth trusted him, and that sex with either one of them was just the way to wind up a typical day, it was a means to an ends sometimes. But Alecta….she had every reason in the world to NOT trust him, or to even become a hermit. But yet, here she was, naked as a jay bird, under him….how could this not be a huge deal?

That day, back when they were walking down that lane at the Eason's…when he had kissed her…she had run away from him. But he had seen the look in her eyes. It was a tormented sort of look…the kind of look that told him that she really wanted to believe him, but she was terrified that if she did, that he would turn on her like everyone else seems to over time…..not that he would ever, but he understood where these feelings may have come from.

Hotch had wrapped her legs over his shoulders, and then wrapped his arms around them, using his hands to make sure her legs staid open. He looked up at her one last time….she was actually behaving herself, for the moment. She was doing as she promised….she hadn't tried to take over again or to stop him. Hotch could only chuckle to himself and shake his head as he dove in. He knew he should take things slow….he knew that. But, this was Alecta. She wasn't a 'slow' kind of girl. She was the kind of woman that liked immediate results; if she worked hard or played hard she expected pay off on a dime. She was _not_ a patient person. If anything she was usually the complete opposite of patient. Hotch knew he had wanted things to be absolutely perfect for her, he really did; but he also knew that with some of her hesitations, he had to put her at ease as soon as he could. This was one case where, if he played his cards right, he would have other opportunities to do this again, and that would give him the time he needed to improve his performances. And, besides, he had a bet to win; he wasn't usually a gambling man, but when Alecta was on offer all bets were off. He only toyed with her for a few moments, just lulling her into a false sense of calm-ish. Once he had her where he wanted her, which by the way, was better than….hehehe, Hotch went for the 'kill' shot. After having worried her clit for several minutes, trying to see how far she would let him push her, he sucked on it _hard_. Her back arched off of the bed, nearly in another back bend and she would have unseated him from his position if he had not anchored himself to her by wrapping his arms and hands around her thighs. It was at that instant that she came without an ounce of warning, although, Hotch wasn't sure he could have planned it better.

After making sure that none of the effort had been wasted, Hotch moved back up her body, settling between her legs and resting his weight against her body. He could feel her heart hammering in her chest, but he didn't bring it up; judging by the look on her face, she knew that he knew.

"If you were scared you should of…."

"But you said to trust you, so I did." Alecta shrugged as if it was no big thing to admit it. "Besides, it wasn't all bad." She winked at him impishly.

"Oh, you…" Hotch kissed her then as deeply as before, reaching into his bedside drawer and rummaging without looking for the much needed condom. She was already pregnant, so that wasn't a worry; but at least for their first time, before they've had any chance to discuss things properly, he felt as if it was the thing to do…he had to take care of her whatever the situation. He'd promised her that since day one.

Alecta had been so busy with the kissing that she hadn't even given a thought to what he'd been doing until after he began to enter her. Hotch felt her tense up on him, he had surprised her.

Rolling them over carefully, to the point that she was on top, 'Relax, it's just me. I don't have to go an inch further until you are ready."

Alecta suddenly didn't like very much being on top like this, with him watching her, waiting for a reaction…..she felt too exposed. It was still early afternoon outside, and it was light in the room…he was going to see every scar, every little whatever it was that she usually kept hidden. She pressed herself closer to him, trying to avoid this particular scenario. She knew that, no matter what he said, he'd see her looking a little too much like Frankenstein's monster and boot her out of the bed and send her on her way…she just knew it. Words that Fletcher had said to her before kept playing on loop in her head….He had told her before that if he had known before what he was getting himself into, people would have had to pay him to sleep with her. He always made sure she knew how absolutely worthless she was to him in whatever form or fashion…it didn't have to be about sex. It could be her worth to him just as a fellow human being. When they had worked together as detectives, and used to get partnered on cases, he couldn't wait to get back to the car after questioning witnesses or suspects….even if she had done a good job and asked stellar questions, he couldn't wait to run her back down into the ground the first chance he got.

Profiler that he was, Hotch had some concept of what was running through her mind, especially after she lowered her body back down onto his and tried to act like nothing was out of the ordinary.

Setting her back up, 'I put you up there because I didn't think that you were comfortable on the bottom right now. Besides, I wanted to see you."

Alecta had been looking anywhere but at him until he said that; when he made that statement her eyes locked on his and she quietly, with her voice shaky with uncertainty asked, 'Why?" Two silent tears streaked down her cheeks.

Hotch made a mental note to dig Fletcher and Jake up and make them pay all over again; he was pretty sure he could get away with it with Rossi's help.

"Why not?" was the question he posed to her. 'If you want to stop…."

Alecta shook her head vigorously, 'No. we don't have to." But, he watched her glance towards the sheet though; it was as if he so much as blinked she'd yank it up to cover herself up.

"Don't even think about it,' he grabbed both her wrists, he saw her eyes fill further with worry. He didn't want to make this more awkward for her than it had to be, 'Alright, this time we play it your way….next time, I make no promises though."

"Ok,' she whispered quietly, nodding. Rolling her under him, he finally entered her, slowly, if for no other reason than to remind her of who she was with and how much she was wanted, every inch of the way. He couldn't help the smug expression that passed his face as he saw the look in her eyes. His thoughts ran back to when she asked him, '_You wanna put that where?'_ He nearly laughed out loud at the memory; the only thing that kept her from it was the fact that this would have been the worst moment to do so EVER. He leaned over to start another one of those kisses, he was going to have to nickname her Cocaine. It was just now as he was kissing her that he realized just how much he watched her lips when she talked….couldn't take his eyes off of them.

As they continued on, Hotch wrapped her legs over his shoulder, which sent him deeper inside of her; she lifted her hips to meet his. He kept thinking about the few times that he had seen her outside of work, when they would all go to the bar after hours to unwind…she could usually be found out on the dance floor, right down beside Morgan, nearly putting him to shame. Anybody on the outside would have thought they were a couple….they could hardly be blamed, that was the vibe that they gave off. Then there were the times that she could be found chilling over by the DJ's booth, jamming with one of the man's headsets on.

One of his favorite pictures of her so far was one that JJ had taken with her camera phone and sent to him….Alecta had been jamming at the DJ booth…her hair was straightened out that night, she said she was in the mood for a little change. She had been wearing one of her usual beaters…it said I LOVE BRITISH ROCKSTARS on the front….only instead of the word British, it had the Union Jack and it was emphasized with sequins…over this she had one of those shells that had a larger than usual neckline that caused it to cling to one shoulder while it draped off of the other one and it was sort of baggy or lose fitting, making her appear even more waifish that she was already. The 'beater' she was wearing was white, with the design on the front…the shell was actually a 'patriot' shade of blue to match the blue in the flag. She had on a pair of vinyl pants that could have been painted on; on her feet were her high end 'shit kickers' as she dubbed them. The DJ was playing some Godsmack, Alecta had the headphones on, her hands holding them even closer to her ears, just rocking out….part of her hair had draped over the right side of her face, covering her eye, and continuing to fall to her waist. JJ had gotten causing her to have an arched brow expression to her face….with the shadows cast by the lights and the way that Hotch felt about her in the first place….it was a damn hot picture actually…not too shabby for a quick shot with a camera phone. And JJ had seen the way that Hotch was always watching Alecta, she sent it to his phone out of the kindness of her heart.

Nobody knew this, but that picture was currently the background of his personal laptop at home _and_ of his two cell phones, both the government-issue and his personal. He just had to hope nobody found out before he and Alecta had a chance to figure out what was really going on between them.

As he continued to bury into her, he couldn't help but have an odd feeling wash through him…it was almost like when he married Hayley. They had dated during some of high school and college, but it was such a strange feeling to be standing there on his wedding day and realize he was marrying the same woman. He didn't think that he deserved somebody as great as Hayley…he wasn't sure why, he just wasn't sure that he did. And this was the exact same feeling. He had watched Alecta for weeks now. He had watched her burrow into the team and become close with all of the members. He had watched her so much that he was starting to lose his motor functions apparently….

On that thought he put a little more force into the movement of entering her, while he took her left nipple into his mouth…she let out a small whimper of pleasure. Lifting his head, he smirked at her; she was out to win this bet with him, rip shit or bust.

He sat back on the bed, pulling her with him, he was in the sitting position pulling her into his lap, her legs had still been over his shoulders; apparently what had been said about her flexibility was no joke, but of course this position sent her even deeper onto him.

That got a nice gasp out of her as she looked back into his eyes, 'You evil little man."

"I don't know about little…."

"You ass." Even with her legs up against his shoulders, she was able to lean closer to him and kiss him deeply, running her hands through his dark hair, ruffling it; as she did so, he wrapped his arms around her keeping her close to him that way. He used the grip he had on her to raise and lower on his dick. It seemed as though this was a really good position, he was able to go as deep as he dared, and he got a quite a few loud moans and gasps from her this way.

Hotch wrapped her in his arms tighter, kissing up her neck heading towards her ear…she flinched a little bit…he pulled back.

"Sorry, ticklish." She would have shrugged her shoulders if she would have been able to.

Hotch rested his forehead against hers grinning; he repeated the process, causing her to giggle from the tickle of it this time. Nibbling on her left earlobe, 'I want you on your knees…I mean, if you…."

Without a word, Alecta fell backwards, which flipped her over, landing her on her knees, 'You mean like this?" she laid her weight on her elbows, which was foresight on her part…she turned her head to the side and was smirking up at him, the dimple in her left cheek showing, winking at him.

_Yep, I am going to have so much fun with her._ Hotch shook his head as he came closer to her. He entered her from this angle, leaning into her, nibbling by her ear again. Now that he knew she was so ticklish…he just couldn't help it.

Alecta wanted to be mad, but she couldn't stop giggling….until he was all the way in….

"Damn….were you holding out before."

"I told you there was nothing little here."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah…I heard ya the first time. If you have to brag, it's not usually worth a shhh. Shit!"

He must have hit just the right angle…she stopped in mid-sentence. He reached down, his arms going under hers, his hands wrapping around her shoulders from that angle, pulling her even deeper.

"Now you're just showing off…."

"Maybe a little,' he pulled her up, her back to his chest, and this caused her to go back down deep onto him. Whispering gruffly into her ear, 'Tell me how close you are."

"If I was any closer, we'd be finished. You?"

He groaned into her ear, kissing down to her collar bone, causing a giggle to erupt yet again….that was a sound he'd never tire of…after everything she had been through these last few weeks, he was going to do whatever it took to keep her happy. The giggles stopped when he bit down lightly and sucked on her collar bone.

"Ow. Really. You're gonna leave a mark." That's when she made up her mind….she did this thing with her hips. Suddenly, Hotch came harder than he had in his life….with a scream at that.

There was no mistaking the mistaking the sound of the satisfied laughter that came from Alecta as she fell forward into the pillows, Hotch toppling down on top of her, still inside of her.

"Anti-up. I win."

"So you did….so you did." Hotch chuckled. Looking down, he saw that her eyes were closed and that she was already fully asleep. He laid down, half on her half on the bed so he wouldn't crush her.

By the time Hotch woke up four hours later, Alecta was still sleeping. He smiled, rose from the bed, grabbed some jogging pants and made his way into the living room to grab his cell phone.

Flipping through the phone book, Hotch found the number he was looking for. He dialed the number, waited for the voice on the other end, 'Dr. Hagler's office. How may we help you?"

"I need to make an appointment for a friend of mine. She's a recent transplant around here, and she doesn't have a regular physician at this time, but we due to some unfortunate circumstances we were made aware that she's expecting. She needs to have an appointment to see how far along she is and what the current health of the baby is."

"What is the lady's name?"

"Alecta Davis."

"Alright, the doctor happens to have an opening for tomorrow around 3pm. It just so happens there was a cancelation. Will 3pm be alright for your friend?"

"It should be fine, yes. And, really, the sooner the better. She's been under a great deal of stress lately, and our jobs are dangerous. I just want her to be able to know if her baby is alright."

"Well, we shall see you tomorrow at 3 then."

"Thank you very much."

Hotch hung up the phone, feeling a lot better. Hopefully, she wouldn't think he'd over stepped any kind of line though. He walked back to the kitchen to make Alecta something to eat. He knew she liked tomato soup and rice, at least he'd seen her eat it a few times, that along with a toasted pimento cheese sandwich. And besides, this would be pretty quick; he wasn't sure she would wake up before he went to get her, but in case she did, she wouldn't have to wait forever for something to eat…when she was ravenously hungry, she was not the most patient person, never mind the fact that she was eating for two. She might be completely unbearable.

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Across town, JJ and Will were out in their front yard, playing a friendly little game of kick-ball with Jack and Henry. Across the street, and about 3 doors down, there was a man sitting in a faded blue car, late 90's model….he was pretending to look at a map…the engine was idling, as if to give the impression that he wouldn't be there long. In the seat beside of him, there was a camera with a long range zoom lens; it was digital, so it had a viewing screen. He picked it up and checked the last few shots he had taken to see if they suited him. In the pictures Jack and Henry were cheering over the fact that they had scored against the grown-ups or laughing over something silly that Will had done to be goofy. After checking to see the quality of the shots, the man took one last look at the boys from his car before pulling off. He would take a few more days before making his move.

**Post AN: Alrighty, so that was chpt. 17; first time trying to make a true M rating…let's see if this sucker gets pulled for being too explicit….it shouldn't I've read some that had more detail, or better details, than that…but it's not up to me. Hopefully I haven't crossed a line with anyone. If it totally sucked out loud let me know…or if it wasn't that bad, let me know that, too. Will be getting into who this new bad guy is a little bit later, perhaps next chapter, we shall see.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Chpt. 18**

After Hotch had fixed the soup and sandwiches for them both and had them sitting on the dining table he went to go wake her up. It was nearing 4pm, they'd either fucked or slept the early part of the afternoon away. Either way, he wasn't about to complain; it been far too long since he had any decent sleep….or decent sex for that matter, and since that had been off the charts, at least in his book….

He figured that the soup and sandwiches would be enough to hold them for a little while, then they could see if the others wanted to go out for a late dinner around about 8 o'clock.

Coming to the door of his bedroom, he smiled to himself seeing that Alecta hadn't moved from being curled upon her left side the way he had left her. She hadn't even had the usual sickness that came with being pregnant.

Kneeling next to her side of the bed, Hotch swept some of the hair away from her face, 'Lex, time to get up and eat a little something."

All he heard was a grumble from somewhere under the pile of covers. It sound a whole lot like 'drop dead…'

"Come on Lex….it's 4 o'clock. You have to eat something. The last time you ate anything…I can't even remember. It's just soup and a sandwich. I thought we could go out with the others for a late dinner."

"Uggggh. Ok, I'm up, but I'm not happy about it. Now, go, I have to get some clothes on."

Hotch leveled the hairy eyeball on her, 'Seriously, we just…."

"Hush. I have to get dressed, beat it."

"Lex?"

"That was different. Now, for real, go." She still had the sheet wrapped around her, having gotten up out of bed, dragging it with her while she made her way to the bathroom; one hand was holding the top of the sheet around her 'girls', her other hand was hiking up some of the train of the sheet to keep her from breaking her neck tripping over it. Her hair was all disheveled, curls falling in various angles.

"I've seen it all, every inch….."

_Did she growl at me?_ Hotch had to ask himself when Alecta shot a scathing look in his direction.

"Alright, I'll go, but don't expect me to like it. But hurry up, it's going to get cold otherwise."

"I'll only be a minute or two."

Once he had seemingly left the room, Alecta walked back over to her suitcase and rummaged around for an underwear set to put on….next she pulled out a pair of track pants and a t-shirt to put on, as well as a hoodie.

She made her way to the bathroom and jumped in the shower….she needed to just wash off really quick, there was no sense in putting on clean clothes after what went down earlier without a quick shower, although she chose to skip washing her hair this time. The shower was quick, it lasted less than 10 minutes, just long enough to wash off the funk of sex so she could go get her grub on.

Hotch had never really gone far; left the room, yes…gone back to the dining room, no. He was standing just outside the door of the bedroom, out of eye shot; he didn't understand what she had to still feel so…self-conscious about. He saw her come out of the bathroom wrapped in one of his towels. She made her way to the bed where she had laid out some of her things and reached for her underwear, pulling them on without removing the towel first. Next she turned so that her back was definitely to the door, and dropped the towel…she reached for her bra, putting that on.

He saw her check her reflection in the mirror, she seemed unimpressed by the reflection staring back at her. She pulled on her track pants and the t-shirt. Looking back at the mirror, she quickly wound her hair up messily in pony tail holder. As she began to finish up and make her way to the bedroom door, Hotch was quick to make his way back to the dining room. He quickly picked up his spoon and stuck in into his bowl a couple times to make it looked used, he even took a bite or two in case she happened to notice even finite details.

She came padding into the room, rubbing her eyes with her palms as she walked. Hotch only smirked at the idea that her track pants were so long that he cuffs drug the floor and this was after consideration of the fact that they were drawstring and she had them tied on quite well; and the hoodie was quite large on her as well.

Seeing him quirk an eyebrow at her, 'It was Sky's. Now it's mine." She sat herself down in a chair, across from Hotch, 'Tomato soup and….Mrs. 'Ouisa told you?"

Hotch only grinned at her.

After lunch, Hotch got his shower and got cleaned up, and then they lounged around watching a movie.

Less than 30 minutes into the movie, Hotch looked down; Alecta had been too quiet. When he looked down, Hotch saw that she was back asleep. If she was awake at all she would have made some sort of comment about the baby throwing her off, maybe even chuckle about it a little. He knew that she was just worn out. She was closing in on 40. She had bouts of insomnia most of her life. And she was pregnant. She was so tired….and when she was awake she was at full tilt, laughing, carrying on as if everything was normal.

Hotch picked up his cell phone and called Morgan to let him know about going out to dinner later on that night; he called each of them, doing the same thing. Next he reclined back, laying his head on a pillow on the arm of the couch, taking her with him. Her head was resting on his chest, her left hand curled up around his shirt collar, her breathing was quiet…Hotch pulled the blanket from the back of the sofa and covered them both with it; they napped for the best part of 2 ½ hours before they had to get ready to go to dinner.

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At Morgan's house, he and Pen had gone to the park to play with Clooney and tossed the ball around for an hour, then they came home and got their showers and sat around watching an old black and white movie that Penelope had always liked. They left the apartment around 7:30 to make their way to the restaurant.

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Emily had gotten cleaned up and her current boyfriend had come to pick her up; handsome devil he was.

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Rachel and her man, Jeffy, had gotten the kids ready. It was easier than you would think. Oleg helped a lot. Sofie was going through a stubborn streak and wouldn't listen to anybody, except him. He was the one that she listened to when it was time to get her bath and get dressed. Oleg was the only one that she would allow to do her hair. When they left the house, Oleg was carrying Sofie, and she sat next to him in the car. It was sweet really.

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JJ and Will got Jack and Henry cleaned up and ready to go. It didn't take long, they were boys, all they needed was a little soap and water and they were done.

Walking out of the house they didn't see the car sitting back across the street or the man in it, reading his map. When they weren't looking the man lifted his camera and took a couple shots of the boys.

Henry was now in first grade, and Jack was in third. They were at such a great age. He didn't envy himself, the decision between which one he wanted most was a tough one.

He saw the family car pull away and decided to follow it.

They stopped and got out at the restaurant. He saw the other people, the team members all get out and make their way to the restaurant. He knew who they were because young Jack had explained it to him once. Jack was one of his best and brightest students, such a smart young man.

He couldn't believe that this bunch of so called profilers hadn't noticed they were being followed; he could have nearly pissed himself with glee.

He saw a young woman walking near agent Hotchner place her arm around dear Jack, leaning down and talking to him. Jack must have said something witty and funny…no doubt, she tossed her head back laughing. Suddenly, she stopped. Her posture changed. That _bitch_ had the audacity to look directly at him. If he didn't know better, he would have sworn that she looked him right dead in the eye. He could tell this little….she was going to be trouble. Oh yes, she was going to be trouble.

Well, it's not like it would be the first time he killed somebody that got in his way.

**Post AN: There's chapter 18. Dude! I think that has to be one of the shortest chapters I've ever written. It more or less wrote itself, love it when that happens….my own version of a cliffy there. No magic quotes or song lyrics this time…..none came to mind, and the chapter was so short that I didn't have time to think of anything suitable. Lemme know what you think. Thanx.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Chpt. 19**

After dinner everyone decided to head back over to Hotch's place; JJ and Will needed to bring Jack home anyway. He had spent the past couple of days playing with Henry and having a blast, but he was secretly ready to go home.

Jack missed his dad a lot, and he was still getting to know Alecta a little bit, but he really liked her. She would tell him the craziest stories….she made him think of all those stories he read about pirates and adventurers….His daddy had allowed him to watch 'The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen', of course Hotch had watched it with his son….in case there was something in there that was questionable that Hotch felt the need to skip over, etc….somehow, Alecta made him think of that movie….he could see her as the female Allan Quartermain…or even a lot like Indiana Jones….Yep, Jack decided, he really liked this one…hopefully it worked out with Alecta and his dad.

Rachel and her boyfriend, Jeffy, were going to drop Sofie and Emma by Hotch's for a couple of days. It would give them time to spend with their mom, and give Hotch, as well as Jack, a little extra time to get used to them. More permanent arrangements could be made for them once it was figured out just where Alecta was going to be calling home for the long term.

Hotch and Alecta had arrived back at his apartment slightly behind some of the others who waited outside, leaning against their cars until he showed up with a key. It was a warm night; most of the group had worn shorts and short-sleeved shirts, flip-flops…it had been a casual dinner, nothing formal at all.

Hotch walked to his door, inserting the key into the lock. As he opened the door, there was a strange feeling that came over him. He switched on the living room light….everything in the great room seemed to be as he left it, but he just couldn't shake the idea that something was different.

Alecta, sensing his hesitation to step further into the apartment, pushed passed him whipping out two blades that apparently never left her side. Twirling the blades around her fingers like an experienced gun slinger, she made her way through the apartment. Hotch had already done more for her than almost anyone in her life….if someone was going to try to hurt him, they would play hell getting through her first.

Hotch and Alecta performed a room to room sweep, the others were standing just outside the door….except Sofie. Being ever so much like her mother, the little girl shrugged Jeffy's hand from her shoulder, 'I'ma help my mommy." And before anyone could stop her she had made her way inside; Sofie had nearly reached Alecta at the end of the hallway, checking the third and last bedroom, before Hotch grabbed her halting her pace.

"But, Agent Man!" Sofie whispered, excitedly.

"Shhh. Let Mommy look first."

The little girl wrinkled her nose and narrowed her eyes at him…._So much like her mother…_Hotch could only smile at the little girl. His attention was brought back to the matter at hand when he heard Alecta exclaim _"Oh my….!"_

"What is it?" he came up behind her at the doorway to the bedroom as she flicked the light switch on.

All she could do was bring both hands to her mouth in exclamation. Her eyes began to tear up, she was so happy. "It's….It's some of my things."

"Some….what did you do, knock over a bazaar?" Morgan's voice came cheerfully from the hall.

"No….ok, well, almost. Twice….' Seeing the Morgan and Hotch 'twin' hairy eyeball….'maybe like five times." Rolling her eyes she went further into the room.

"Do I even want to know how the 'movers' got everything in here?"

"No,' Alecta said with a shake of her head as she continued to peruse the room. She couldn't believe 'they' had brought over so much stuff…and in the span of just a couple of hours.

The floor was covered by some of the rugs that she had bought while on her travels to Turkey, Morocco, and Israel, among others…they were tossed haphazardly to give the lived-in casual feel that she loved so much, some over-lapping others.

On the walls were paintings, sketches, maps of varying ages. On one wall, to the left, there was the cabinet that had captured Morgan's attention in earlier days. It was of a Middle-Eastern design.

"Isn't that 16th century Turkish design?"

"Very good Dr. Reid." She kept looking through her things; it was like she was discovering old friends all over again. On the same wall as the cabinet, and partially obscured by it, was an old map of Istanbul (or as it was labeled Constantinople)…it was sketched out as the city would have been centuries ago; also in the same frame was an old pastel of the Hagia Sophia….it wasn't a professional rendering, but it was old and seemed to mean a lot to Alecta.

On the far wall, in front of the windows sat the desk; Alecta walked over to it, running a hand across the top of it as if remembering a different time. Next she continued to the chair that she was going to use as her desk chair.

She smiled, 'They got it." Alecta wiped her eyes as she sat down in it. She looked at the desk top, all of her papers and things in the little bins and trays that sat on top.

"Ooh! I just thought of something." When she sprung from the chair, Hotch noticed that she had kicked her flip flops off under the desk and was now barefoot, running all over the hem of her pants legs.

She made her way back over to the cabinet, grabbing for a key on a chain from the desk top; she popped the lock on the doors to the top of the cabinet. She took out an old manuscript; brittle with age….Alecta tucked the book under her arm and turned to make her way out of the room hastily grabbing Reid by the arm as she went, leaving him no other option than to be dragged behind her. He had to stagger to keep up with her as she made her way to the living room, the others trailing behind her. Alecta flopped onto Hotch's sofa, dragging Reid down with her; he landed on the cushion, nearly on top of her.

"Look it, look it…." she carefully, yet excitedly, showed him the first one briefly. "It's a journal of sorts, kept by Margaret Tudor, older sister of Henry VIII.

"How did you come across this book?"

"Uh, I know a guy. But what I wanted to show you was this."

Alecta removed a tattered old manila envelope; the clasp had long since disappeared and the flap was now held shut by some twine wrapped from end to end and side to side.

Looking up at Reid from the corner of her left eye, her hair falling to slightly to obscure part of that side of her face, "You remember our conversation about the death of Christopher Marlowe? And do you remember I told you that I had proof that he was murdered as part of an 'espionage' racket?"

"Yes, I do, of course."

"Well read it and weep. These papers were letters and bits of journal entries that were written by Elizabeth I, her court astrologer (John Dee), his sister, Edward De Vere 17th earl of Oxford, and William Shakespeare of Avon. They were all in on it."

"How so?"

"Well I know how you love a good read. But the gist of it goes something like this. There was a spy ring that was set up around Arabella Stuart, she was the niece of Mary, Queen of Scots….and of course since it was still, for the moment Tudor England, there were various other plots going on all around."

"Ok. But how do De Vere and Shakespeare figure in to all of this?"

"God you're slow. Ok. Let's see….Going by this bit of information here, it says that Marlowe was one of the good Queen's bastards….according to some of the things I have come across over the years there were maybe four of them. Marlowe would have been the third one. The first two would have been born either just before she gained the crown or sometime just shortly after."

"Who is believed to be the father?"

"Most of my contacts seem to think that Robert Dudley, 1st Earl of Leicester was the father of at least three of them. What do you think got his wife, Amy, killed?"

"I always heard that the death was ruled an accident."

"Oh honey…There was a noble family, they had been having trouble starting their own family. One day out of the blue the lady of the house begins talking about how she was expecting. But, she never appeared pregnant, and even in those costumes, there was always some way to tell if a woman was pregnant….and besides, do you think these noble people dressed themselves? No, they had servants helping them. The lady's servant had spoken to her sister, who was a servant in the Leicester house, Amy happened to hear it from her servant. Once, while she was at court, Amy had the poor taste to mention this to someone that she thought was a friend. There was a conversation between them during which time it became apparent that the Queen was the one that was pregnant.

Word got back to Elizabeth that Amy knew. And of course, it was made clear to Amy that, if the Queen was with child, then Amy's own husband the Earl of Leicester was the likely father….he was Elizabeth's favorite after all, they had been friends since childhood.

Amy had never been one to keep her mouth shut. Likely, shot off her mouth at Leicester, and he conversed with the Queen about it. Within days, Amy was found dead at the bottom of the stairs, her neck broken. And within the week two of the Leicester servants left the household to move on to some other commission."

"Well that still doesn't explain the whole involvement of De Vere and Shakespeare."

"True. Now pay attention. Edward De Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford was born 14 years or so before Marlowe, so he had nothing to gain by offing him directly. Oh, no. But Edward owed Elizabeth everything. Edward's father, John, died when the boy was 12. Edward was made a ward of the court. It's not like his mother was going to care for him. She was too busy running off with her lover…who Edward held responsible for his father's death…that's a different story for a different day.

Edward was sent to live in the household of William Cecil, Elizabeth's advisor. Cecil set him up with new tutors and a whole new life basically. It was arranged that he would marry Cecil's daughter, Anne.

Over the years, it became apparent that Edward was notoriously bad with money and women in equal measure…and maybe even sometimes men. It got to the point that Elizabeth had to grant him a yearly stipend to keep him out of hock. And, he was implicated in quite a few plots of various nature, some of them even against the Queen directly….he was pardoned from any jail time. Something made him important to the Queen, otherwise he would have been imprisoned, tortured (or tried, depending on your point of view), and then executed…just like anyone else that got caught in a plot.

Marlowe as we've said had already been hired as a spymaster….he was set to meet three other such men at a tavern that was conspicuously owned by the sister of John Dee….the court astrologer. They were to discuss the next parts of their current mission, at least that was the ruse…In truth, they were only really there to make sure that Marlowe even showed up. Marlowe's drink was drugged, thanks to Dee's sister. By the end of the night of drinking, the other three men had to help Marlow to the door.

Outside, just beyond the tavern gate, waited four men. These were four of William Shakespeare's best actors. They were in costumes and some make-up to hide their true identities.

Now…De Vere had been approached by William Cecil, his own father-in-law and told that something had to be done about Christopher Marlowe, if he was allowed to live that he would jeopardize the kingdom. Cecil reminded De Vere of all of the scandals that he had been excused from and that if he did this it would be like a clean slate, or very nearly.

De Vere would have been a complete moron to say no. If he said no, Cecil and Elizabeth would have cooked up something to charge him with, he would be arrested and either imprisoned the rest of his life or executed for treason. Elizabeth was nothing if not her father's daughter after all; she'd learned a thing or two from old Henry.

De Vere had enlisted Shakespeare's help before. One of the ways that Edward had scandalized the court was through his literary works. Many of his plays and sonnets ridiculed members of nobility outright, and several times he bordered on slandering the Queen herself. Knowing the fine line that he was teetering on, De Vere had paid Shakespeare a sum of money per year to be able to use Shakespeare's name in association with the works. How do you think that William Shakespeare, no better than a commoner from Avon could get away with such poisonous thoughts unscathed? He was never arrested for his slanderous words…Marlowe was arrested numerous times, and _he was working for the Queen!_ William Shakespeare was nobody in the grand scheme of things before Edward De Vere paid him for the use of his name attached to those works. Shakespeare, in comparison with De Vere, was barely literate…he had only the equivalent of a secondary school education. He was like his father very litigious…Shakespeare would rather take you to court and sue you for a few coins than get a real job.

Once De Vere contacted him about the plays and the rest of the works, Shakespeare got into the theater. Most of his success was orchestrated by De Vere. So when Cecil went to De Vere to enlist him in his help with the matter of Marlowe, he instructed De Vere to contact Shakespeare and hire out his best men for the deed.

It's all right here in Latin, and whatever the vernacular of the day would have been."

As she and Reid went through the papers, she rested her head on his right shoulder. He leafed through the letters and correspondences while she turned through Margaret Tudor's journal.

"Why do you seem so attached to Margaret Tudor?"

Looking over at Morgan, where he sat with Garcia on the love seat (ironic, maybe a little), she grinned as she walked back into her knew sanctuary, grabbing a framed photo from the desk. It showed Alecta standing beside a painted portrait of Margaret Tudor that was nearly 600 years old. The two were dead ringers for one another.

"Because, within 16 generations of separation she was one of my great-grandmothers."

Everyone passed the photo around and could only gawk at the family resemblance.

"So you see, not only am I practically indestructible, but somewhere deep inside I have the Tudor temper….it lives."

"Oh dear, that temper is legendary all on its own." Reid interjected.

"Would you really expect anything less from me?"

"Well, now that you mention it…No."

"Hotch, you poor bastard." Rossi chuckled.

"Hey now, I have never plotted against him or in any way tried to bring bodily harm to the man. He pretty much took care of that by himself. I resent that remark."

Alecta had sat back down on the sofa, curling up and resting her head against the arm of it.

She was starting to wind down, but didn't want to admit it; she was as bad to fight sleep as Sofie and Emma.

"Well look I hate to cut this evening so short, but we have a big day tomorrow, so.."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure you do." Morgan smirked at Hotch, a little disbelief in the tone that he used.

"No really. I had thought about taking her back out to do some more shopping…for the baby….and then she has a doctor's appointment."

"What doctor's appointment?"

"I set one up for you so you could have a scan done to see where you're at in the pregnancy and to see to the overall health of the baby so far. I made it while you were sleeping…um…earlier. It's for 3pm. I mean, I hope it's alright."

"Well, in that case…since you have a point I guess we probably should head out."

Mrs. King was already over at Alecta giving her the 'mom' speech about calling her after the doctor's appointment and telling her how everything was going and giving her the updates…of course Alecta could only agree. With Alecta having the appointment tomorrow afternoon, Rachel and Jeffy were going to take the kids back to their place and had arranged for Hotch and Alecta to pick them up later on that evening.

After everyone piled out of the apartment, Hotch turned to getting Jack ready for bed. Little Jack wasn't exactly going down without a fight. Hotch came back to the top of the hallway and saw Alecta sitting there, thinking.

"I didn't over-step anything did I?"

Alecta turned and looked at him, studying him for a second. "You really did that for me? I mean you wanna go?"

"Yes, I do." Hotch said carefully.

Alecta only nodded and said so very quietly, '_Ok'._

"Well, look, Jack is fighting bedtime tonight. He wants you to tuck him in. He's never this hard to deal with. You want to take a crack at it and see if he will listen to you?"

"Eh, sure….it can't hurt."

Alecta got up and walked gingerly down the hall; Hotch knew she was still thinking over the fact that he had set up her appointment. He knew it likely threw her for a loop. She was off balance, and that didn't happen so blatantly very often. It was kind of strange, but he liked it; it showed she was just as human as the rest of them after all.

When Alecta arrived at Jack's bedroom door, she knocked before entering. Jack invited her in, and was sitting up in the bed, not interested in the least in going to sleep. After talking with him for a moment she was able to learn that he wanted her to read him a story out of one of the books on her shelves in her new room. Allowing him to scoot down out of bed, she took him by the hand and they walked down the hall to the other room. Once inside she took him over to some of the book cases and allowed him to look over some of the books she took down. He finally settled on an old dusty volume of Sherlock Holmes _Hound of the Baskervilles_. This copy was nearly 100 years old, and had been given to her by a dear friend…a very dear friend. When she told Jack it was her favorite, his eyes lit up and he begged her to begin reading it to him.

Hotch watched them walk back into Jack's room; he made his way down the hall and watched her with Jack in his room. The boy had lain back on his pillow; Alecta was snuggled down beside him, one arm around his shoulders, and had turned to the first page in the book.

Hotch went back up the hall to the kitchen to get something to drink and a bit of a snack. After nearly 20 minutes, which was usually plenty of time for Jack to fall asleep when he was being read a story, Alecta still hadn't come back out.

Hotch made his way back to his son's room. Opening the door, he saw why Alecta hadn't come out yet. She had rolled over on her side and was facing Jack, she was fast asleep, one arm wrapped around his little boy. And Jack was mimicking her. He had rolled over on his corresponding side, with one arm tossed over Alecta's waist and was fast asleep with his head resting against her chest. The book was long forgotten, lying slightly further down, still opened to the page that they had stopped on. Leaning over, Hotch grabbed the book, taking it back to Alecta's little room, and found a piece of paper to stick into it, and closed it, having marked the spot, and then placed it on the desk. He returned to his son's room and untangled them gently so he didn't wake either of them; then he carefully picked her up, her little feet just barely peeking out from under the hem of her pants legs. He carried her carefully down the hall to his own bedroom and laid her on the bed; he wondered about how to get her changed into her pajamas without waking her and settled on just leaving her in them for now. If she woke up later and wanted to change, it could be her choice; but sleep was so hard for her to come by sometimes, he didn't have the heart to wake her up unnecessarily. He remembered to set her down on the side away from the door. He had never bothered to ask her why she preferred that side; although he could probably guess. It likely had a lot to do with memories of her dad coming into her room in the middle of the night and not having any sort of protection against him or anywhere to hide from him. And if that was what was behind it all, he was better off not making her go through that again if she didn't have to.

He watched her curl up on her side, facing away from the window. The profiler in him figured out there was part of her that was scared of the dark or something of that nature. He pulled the covers up over her, up to her shoulders and walked back out into the living room.

Picking up his cell phone, he decided to call Reid and ask him about this.

"Reid."

"Hey it's me."

"What's wrong Hotch?"

"I have a question. I have noticed over the last few days or so that Alecta sleeps with her back to a window, especially at night. I know that she likes to sleep away from the door, putting some distance between her and whatever is on the other side; and I'm pretty sure I know the reason why. But why would she feel the need to sleep facing away from a darkened window, at least to start off with….she usually manages to turn over at some point around dawn or slightly thereafter, when there is at least some light to be seen."

"Well, I do know that in some belief systems that it is thought that windows are portals to some other plane….like a doorway to the other side. And judging from what we learned from our little field trip just recently, it would stand to reason that this or some version of this is part of her beliefs. I mean, you've met 'Revoultionary Dan' and Dorian…and that's not the least of them. And if what we learned from Eli was the truth, and there is something that is bad news that haunts her, she may be worried about giving whatever it is any chance to get to her. And even if there isn't something negative out to get her personally, if windows really were portals, then it wouldn't be any trouble at all for something that is negative to find its way through if it thinks it has a chance…and honestly, she has enough problems as it is, don't you think?"

"This is very true. Alright, I'm going to hop off of here. I just wanted a second opinion. She's in bed now. Jack requested that she tuck him in tonight. I think he really likes her."

"Watch out Hotch, that boy is trying to push you two along." You could almost hear the grin in the young man's voice.

"The thing is he doesn't have to try too hard."

"What book did she read to him?"

"Hound of the Baskervilles….her copy is pretty old; it looked like it was nearly 100 years old actually. One of the things she's picked up on her travels no less. I think she really likes talking to you about some of these things."

"Yeah, maybe. I figure she's had so many adventures. Whether they were educational or work related remains to be seen. But she never talks about many of them. When she showed me those papers, you could have knocked me over with a feather. The way she is about so many things, I figured that would be one of those things she guarded with her life."

"Well, I'm for real this time, I need to hop off here and check on her and get ready for bed myself."

"Alright, call us if either of you need anything."

"Of course."

With that, Hotch did just what he said he would do. He made his way down to the bedroom and saw her still lying there, sleeping…her hair draped over her body; her breathing was so quiet you had to really listen carefully. Quietly Hotch made his way to his master bathroom and changed into his own pajamas. Coming out, he crawled into bed next to her and pulled her closer to him, and she wrapped an arm around him almost automatically.

Smiling to himself as he drifted off to sleep, Hotch had no idea how different life was going to be in a matter of days.

**Post AN: So there is chapter 19. I know I ended it on a bit of an awkward note; it left it open as to whether the change is good or bad. There will be some of both I think. Lemme know….**


	20. Chapter 20

**Chpt 20**

**Just because I keep forgetting to mention it…as if ya'll didn't know….I don't own CM or any of their characters….just my own that have been sprinkled all over the place. **

By 2:15 pm Aaron Hotchner was sitting in the waiting room of the doctor's office watching Alecta as she filled out her preliminary paperwork. She got up, walked over to the assistant's window and turned in the clipboard of info; she came back and sat down, picking up an old raggedy book she'd brought with her…..it was some sort of anthology about the Kings of Scotland. She had this old frayed bookmark, it looked like some sort of replica of a prayer rug, must've been one of her favorite things.

That was one thing Hotch had noticed about her. Except for some of her older books that were gifts from friends or acquisitions of some sort, her favorite things…things that she tended to handle the most seemed to be worn; books whose bindings were about to practically fall off (case in point, the old book that Rossi had given her so long ago, she took that book everywhere with her…Hotch had never seen it leave her go bag), this frayed imitation prayer rug…..the colors were still vibrant, but with a worn sense about them at the same time….Her 'lucky' messenger bag….although she had yet to tell him what was so damned lucky about it, it looked like it was held together by David Copperfield, and David Copperfield only, absolute magic.

She was reading quietly; her left elbow was leaning on the arm of the chair, her head resting on her left hand…the fingers carding through that part of her hair. On the right side of her head, the hair was cascading down the side of her short little neck; the effect framed her pale face wonderfully.

She had been quiet the entire car ride over here; after asking him several times if he was sure that he wanted to deal with all the baby drama and getting the same response….that he was sure and that he was born ready, she had grown really quiet. Hotch suspected his response had maybe thrown her for a loop, and he was sure he knew why, but he had to make her talk about it some. For far too long in her life she had very few people that she could ever turn to, and even if she did trust you it wasn't a sure bet that she'd tell you what was truly bothering her.

Hotch couldn't take it anymore, 'Alecta, why do you seem shocked by the fact that I want to be there to help you?"

She lifted her eyes from her book, arching her left brow at him, the look on her face did all the talking; it said 'are you seriously going to ask me that?'.

Hotch simply stared back at her calmly, never tiring of her animated expressions or any doubts that she told him about, it was all just other parts of her that he was getting to know.

Sighing, 'Fine. Fletcher never cared. He never cared. Pregnant or not, he never let up on beating me. I was always covered in bruises and scrapes; the only time he ever took me to a doctor for anything was when our captain forced the issue. And even then….he would sit in there with me, and I had no choice but to tell the doctor that the injuries that I had were work related.

I had local and regional gymnastics medals, and yet I was reduced to lying to cover for my injuries. Of course it isn't like the medical attention did me any good anyway, I mean when Fletcher was spending all of his spare time causing me to miscarry or pop out a still born baby. But it is what it is."

With that she turned back to her book, but Hotch didn't miss the single tear that fell down her cheek.

At a few minutes to 3, a nurse called them back. She tried making small talk about how exciting this must be, but looking at Alecta's facial expression, she stopped.

"Lady, my husband raped me, I got pregnant, and now he's dead. Do I look excited?"

After checking Alecta's vitals and going over some preliminary questions, the nurse quietly showed them to an examination room, shutting the door behind her as she left.

"Turn around and close your eyes."

"You didn't have to bite that nurse's head off you know."

Alecta arched an eyebrow at him.

"I've already seen it; really?"

Huffing, Alecta moved to the back corner and pulled the hospital curtain across on the track; behind the curtain, she changed out of her top and into the hospital gown, leaving her pants on. Once she was done, she folded her shirt and laid it on the chair, and went to hop up on the examination table…Hotch was quicker than she was in that respect, he hoisted her up on to it when he realized she was having trouble getting the platform out so she could step up and boost herself. She just looked him in the eye as he popped her up on the examination table.

They to wait five minutes, maybe less than that before the doctor came in.

"I'm doctor Hagler. I'll be taking care of you today. So what are we in for?"

"Easter egg…"

"L-e-x." Hotch drug her name out in warning.

"Twenty-five to…"

"Dr., I'm Aaron Hotchner, I called to place the appointment. I'm sorry I didn't know she had a bowl of 'Bitchy Flakes' this morning. I'll start monitoring her breakfast from now on.' Hotch shot a glare to Alecta. "She's pregnant. And over the past couple of weeks she's been under a lot of stress; I would just feel a lot better if we knew how far along she was, and if it's a healthy pregnancy so far."

"It says here that you have some gold medal morning sickness."

"Hotch, he can…."

"Alecta!"

"Yes, I do.' Alecta looked at the doctor like a scolded puppy. "I know I can't eat eggs….that's a total 'no-no'. Sometimes when the sickness starts, it lasts for hours….At one time, I kept falling asleep hanging my head in the toilet."

"Mr. Hotchner, don't worry about her attitude. It's mostly just hormones…"

"You've never met her have you? You'll know when it's hormones."

"It seems, going by the chart here, that you've had a terrible time lately."

"Whatever. Can you just wave your magic wand and tell me what's going on in there? Or do I have to summons Dr. Bombay?"

The doctor chuckled as he fired up the sonogram machine; even though this young woman was the most irritable he'd run into in a while there was something….there was something that was sort of endearing about her….kind of like Archie Bunker with PMS.

Once the gel was spread on her stomach, the doctor got the handheld device and proceeded to scan along her tummy.

In no time, there was a reaction.

"Oh my…."

"Are you gonna share with the rest of the class?"

"Well, this is quite a shock actually."

"Look old man, life is short…"

"You're actually quite close to seven and half months pregnant, from what I can tell about the development of the babies on the screen…."

He was cut off, 'Babies? Plural?"

"Yes ma'am. Twins…"

"But I'm not even showing….I haven't out grown any of my clothes yet. What the hell?"

"Well everybody is different. Both babies seem to be coming right along. It looks as if one of them might be a boy; it's hard to tell because of the way the baby is positioned, and the other baby is blocked by the first one quite well, so…"

"A boy?"

The doctor looked down at her when he heard the tone in her voice. She seemed pleasantly surprised and rather…bittersweet about it.

"Really, a boy?"

"Maybe, it's hard to tell…with the way the little tyke is turned it's hard to make out for sure."

Rubbing the side of her tummy, 'Come on nugget…Turn around already."

Not only did it seem that the baby listened, but the baby also gave a tiny stretch.

"Definitely, a little boy,' the doctor was able to announce. 'And I am thinking that the other is a girl….but I had to look quick. Mighty mouse here was in a hurry to get back to business."

"Fabulous, twins. Hotch, I hope you like parade floats, because, I might be one tomorrow."

"Now, Mrs. Davis…"

"Gotta change my last name….' seeing the doctor's face, 'My husband died a couple weeks ago."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Don't be. He was trying to kill me."

"And he failed….that's good to know.

"Not only did he fail, but, he shot him,' pointing to Hotch, 'and killed him to stop him. Sweet shot too, might I add."

"Well, in all likelihood, you shouldn't show too terribly bad, if you haven't started yet….there's still a chance for it to happen so, don't quote me. I want you to take it easy over the next few weeks. I won't put you on bed rest, although I probably need to; but just don't do anything foolish anytime soon."

"No, really, you should put her on the bed...mmmf."

Alecta had leaned over and placed a hand over Hotch's mouth, glaring at him, "Hush. Let the man talk."

The doctor bit his lips together to stifle a chuckle.

"Well, let me ask you this…What is it that you do for work?"

Alecta looked up at Hotch. He spoke up, "We work with the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit. Basically we are called in when law enforcement agencies are having trouble solving various crimes, we try to deduce what kind of person could commit the crime…it helps narrow the suspect pool down a bit….' Hotch looked over at Alecta, worried about what he was going to say next, 'In all honesty doctor, there are times when we are in physical danger. As you can imagine, some criminals have no intention of going quietly, and they will use any means necessary to avoid capture….if that means taking shots at one of us, or kidnapping one of us…they do it."

Hotch heard Alecta grumble under her breath, for just a second there he worried about the ride home…would he make it? But once he stopped and thought about it…it was fine by him if she hid his body, but he was going to do what he had to do to make sure she was taken care of; if that meant bed rest, then so be it. She'd been through a lot of stressful things the past few weeks; she'd watch her friends die, her father was now dead as well as his friends….hell she'd watched Hotch himself kill her husband. He really wasn't sure how much more stress she could handle without it becoming harmful to her or the baby…babies.

"Well, young lady, under the circumstances of what your friend here has just told me, I have to put you on some sort of restriction. I won't put you on bed rest, but I don't think you need to be leaving home unless there's some sort of emergency….unless it's related to a doctor's appointment to check the status of the pregnancy, or you're in labor…."

"House arrest! Are you for real?" Judging by the look on her face, Hotch thought the doctor would be a truly intelligent man if he made a run for it.

"I could restrict you to bed rest for the next month and a half, but as far as I can tell, the babies seem healthy enough in spite of all the excitement that you have been through. But as close as you are to the end already, and with a set of multiples on top of that this is an idea….you shouldn't be going so very many places right now. You need rest and less stress."

"And besides we still have some time off from work left over, use it."

Alecta tossed her head back onto the exam table, rolling her eyes, 'Dude, narc on me why don't ya."

The doctor had finished his scan of Alecta and her babies, and was shutting the machine down, "I will have copies made, as well as a DVD in case you would like one. I will step out so you can get redressed; just see the nurse at the desk on your way out. And don't forget, I've got you on restriction, so don't go doing anything too crazy."

"Wouldn't dream of it Doc." She watched the older man as he left, grudgingly. Before Alecta could even scoot down off of the examination table Hotch helped her down. She didn't even argue with him this time, simply walked back to the corner and pulled the curtain around and got redressed. As she finished getting dressed, she shoved the curtain open and was raking her hands underneath her hair to pull it out from under the collar of her blouse, the movement causing the hem of the shirt to bunch up a bit showing just the slightest bit of stomach. Before she finished getting her hair free of the inside of her shirt, she began walking back out into the rest of the room.

"Come on, I'm ready to get outa here,' she pulled her shirt tail down a little bit. She didn't even bother to stop, and Hotch fell into step behind her, holding the door open for her while she went through.

They stopped by a little Japanese place and got a couple orders of sushi. Alecta was still so quiet, even more so than before. That night, once back at Hotch's apartment they curled up on the sofa, watching King Arthur….he knew she liked Clive Owen and Stellan Skarsgard.

An hour into the movie and Alecta just wasn't feeling it. Ordinarily she would be all over the chance to watch it. As completely inaccurate as it might be, as so many of them are, she still loved the movie. But her head just wasn't in it.

Sitting up, turning to Hotch, she said quietly, with some melancholy to her voice, 'I think I'm going to bed. I'm just…." She could only shrug. Hotch decided they would both turn in; by now it was nearing 10 pm….on their way home from eating, they had stopped by Jessica's house to see Jack for a little while. Since they had the doctor's appointment earlier, he'd been taken over there. He had been playing steadily with his cousins when he caught sight of his dad.

Three hours later, Hotch awoke with a start. Alecta wasn't in the bed. He checked his master bathroom, she wasn't in there. He began to get worried. Suddenly, he heard a sound. He listened more carefully.

It was the sound of someone crying; he followed the sound down the hall to Alectas' little cave. Opening the door he saw her sitting in Margaret's chair; her back was to the door, she had turned the chair sort of cater cornered. Her knees were pulled up to her chest, one arm wrapped around them. In the other hand she was holding a framed photo, Hotch couldn't quite make out who or what was in it just yet, but he knew she was bawling her eyes out.

Quietly he made his way in, squatting down in front of her. She was so upset she didn't even seem to notice he was there…at least until he spoke to her.

"Lex, what's wrong?"

"Today's July 22, isn't it?"

"Yes. Tell me what's wrong."

She reached out and sat the picture down on the desk top so very carefully. Hotch saw it was a picture of a little baby, but the color was slightly off.

"Today would be his birthday. He'd be almost as old as Jack by now. It's all I have left of him. He's even buried back in LA." She looked up into Hotch's eyes and he saw more tears in her eyes than he ever had in anyone else's. With that she got up and left the room. Hotch thought she would go back to bed, but he became worried when he heard the apartment door open and then close again. Jumping up he ran to the door and then down the hall of the building, but she was nowhere to be found.

In just a matter of seconds she had vanished. Running back into his apartment, he grabbed his cell phone, looking at it, debating on whether to call Rossi or not. It was very nearly 2 am. Alecta could be headed over to his house to see her own mother….and it would be polite to give the old man a heads-up. But Hotch wasn't sure where she had gone, and that worried him. There was no way he was letting her sleep at the bus station. He wouldn't let it happen before, and he wouldn't let it happen now that he knew how very pregnant she was. But then Hotch thought a second. He decided to call Garcia instead of Rossi. He needed to find out if there was a way for Pen to track Alecta before he woke up the neighborhood looking for her.

Hotch waited for Pen to answer, "Penelope Garcia."

"It's me."

"H-Hotch, what's wrong?"

"Alecta took off."

"What did you do?"

"Nothing, I swear. We had gone to bed about 10:30 or 11. Three hours later I wake up, she's not there. I find her in her little room, sitting in her chair, looking out the window, crying her eyes out. Come to find out today was supposed to be the birthday of the baby that she lost. She was looking at his picture. Then after she explained it to me, she got up and walked out of the front door.

I thought about calling Rossi to let him know just in case she makes it to his house in the middle of the night. But then I thought that, before I call him, I should call you. You did say you have ways of tracking some of the other girls, right? That way I can find out where she's going before I call the cavalry at 2 or 3 in the morning."

"Calm down boss man. Give me a few minutes to warm up my laptop; I'll call you back as soon as I know something. And then you can tell me what you heard at the doctor's office."

"Ok, I'll be sitting here waiting. And I'll try to tell you what I can…."

"Very well, I will be getting back to you in a few minutes."

All Hotch could do was pace until Garcia called him back. He thought about eating something, but it was going on 3 a.m.; he wasn't even hungry….he wasn't sure he could eat until he at least found out where Alecta was. Had she no clue how freaked out he'd be? She's practically 7 months pregnant, with twins, high stress job…and let him not even start thinking over what had happened over the last few days with her father…..and now she had taken off.

His cell phone began ringing, Garcia worked fast.

"Garcia?"

"Not hardly Agent Hotchner."

It was a male voice. Aaron recognized it, but yet again, he couldn't remember where he'd heard it before.

As if the man could read Hotch's mind, 'Check the caller ID again." The man waited.

"Who is this and why do you have Agent Davis' phone?"

"Agent Davis now? The last few days or so she's been Alecta. What happened Aaron Hotchner, lover's spat already?"

"Don't you wish?"

"Hardly. I really hope the two of you are still together. It makes the effort I've gone through ever so much sweeter."

"What do you want? Tell me your terms."

"Who said I have terms? I have what I wanted all along, this little bitch.' The man turned around yelling, 'Do that again and you will pay dearly whore."

Hotch could tell that Alecta had thrown something at the man or tried hitting him, he heard the man wince.

The man turned back to his conversation with Hotch, 'My brother and I had a job to do, you and your team put us in jail. Now he's dead; didn't even make it to trial….."

"My heart bleeds…."

"Because of you and your team, this whore got away. But lucky for me, the prison system is inept. I was able to switch places with another inmate, and voila….here I am. She won't get away this time….unless….unless you find us in the next, oh, I think 6 hours should be enough time. Find us by 9 am or…."

With that Hotch heard the line go dead. Hotch immediately started calling Garcia again.

"I'm looking as fast as I can Boss Man…."

"Look faster. She's been taken. He must've gotten her as she stepped out of the building…maybe even right outside my door….she disappeared so damned fast…."

Hotch was starting to ramble, 'Who took her Hotch?"

"Mark Goodnight."

**Post AN: So that caps chpt 20 for me. For those of you who read my last story, you may or may not remember this Mark fellow….if you don't it will become clear to you soon. Hope it was a decent chapter….will start on 21 soon I hope.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Chpt 21.**

**Same as always, don't own a thing…damn shame it is.**

**Hey! Hey! Hey!  
I don't like walking around this old and empty house.  
So hold my hand, I'll walk with you my dear  
The stairs creak as I sleep,  
it's keeping me awake  
It's the house telling you to close your eyes**

**Some days I can't even dress myself.  
It's killing me to see you this way.**

**'Cause though the truth may vary  
this ship will carry our bodies safe to shore.**

**Hey! Hey! Hey!**

**There's an old voice in my head  
that's holding me back  
Well tell her that I miss our little talks.  
Soon it will all be over, buried with our past  
We used to play outside when we were young  
and full of life and full of love.**

**Some days I feel like I'm wrong when I am right.  
Your mind is playing tricks on you my dear.**

**'Cause though the truth may vary  
This ship will carry our bodies safe to shore**

**Hey!**

**Don't listen to a word I say**

**Hey!**

**The screams all sound the same.**

**Hey!**

**Though the truth may vary  
this ship will carry our bodies safe to shore**

**You're gone, gone, gone away,  
I watched you disappear.  
All that's left is a ghost of you.  
Now we're torn, torn, torn apart,  
there's nothing we can do,  
Just let me go, we'll meet again soon.**

**Now wait, wait, wait for me, please hang around  
I'll see you when I fall asleep.**

**Hey!**

**Don't listen to a word I say**

**Hey!**

**The screams all sound the same.**

**Hey!**

**Though the truth may vary  
this ship will carry our bodies safe to shore**

**Hey!**

**Don't listen to a word I say**

**Hey!**

**The screams all sound the same.**

**Hey!**

**Though the truth may vary  
this ship will carry our bodies safe to shore **

**(Of Monsters and Men 'Little Talks')**

After Garcia got off of the phone with Hotch, Morgan was about to pester the shit out of her to tell him what was going on.

"Pen…"

"Derek."

"Aw, c'mon, what is Hotch calling you at 3am for?"

"Alecta had taken off. Now she's been kidnapped."

Morgan jumped out of bed pulling on his jeans and a Henley shirt….it was a burgundy one today.

"What are you talking about kidnapped?" Morgan was sliding a belt through the loops on his jeans; Pen lost track of thought…..what had he asked?

"Baby Girl?"

"Sorry, got distracted…' shaking the cobwebs out of her head, 'You know what kidnapped means."

Seeing the look he gave her, 'You remember Mark Goodnight?"

"Yeah, the case back in LA…..the one where we sort of met Fletcher for a hot second…..the abused women that were running from their spouses and winding up dead…"

"He took her."

"When?"

"Just within the last few minutes. Hotch said that she was having a bad night,' seeing Derek's look, 'ask him about it later. But long story short she walked out of the apartment. He went after her, but by the time he could get to the door and get it opened, she had disappeared.

Now I know Lex is good, she can hide anywhere, but she can't move quite that fast."

"I guess he wants everyone at the office then?"

"It can't hurt. Can you call the others while I jump on some searches?"

"Yeah, I'll double check and see if he's already contacted them yet. Don't be too long, we'll want to leave soon."

"You got it doll."

Garcia set her laptop to work and got up to get a quick shower. She couldn't go into work like this….

Within the hour everyone had gathered back at headquarters; Mrs. King had even demanded to come with Rossi….and Rossi wasn't about to argue with the kind of woman that had anything to do with raising the hellion Alecta.

Hotch was running behind, which was unusual for him. He was always the first in the office, if he ever left. His hair had a slightly unkempt appearance….like he'd brushed it, but barely. He wasn't even in a suit, just wearing a pair of jeans and a green t-shirt…looked like whatever was the fastest thing he could throw on. And you could tell by the look on his face how upset he was.

"Garcia what do you have?"

"Well sir, the last ping I got from the tracking device that she has implanted let me know that they are just on the outskirts of town. It's a rural area. The few houses out that way are spread out. There are not a lot of office buildings or warehouses….but that's where it ends; the closest thing that I can get to an actual location are these coordinates. But there's nothing there."

Reid was looking at the topographical map, 'It seems as though it's merely wide open spaces, open fields, no houses…not even a barn to speak of."

"Based on the fact that this is the last transmission that I've gotten from this device….it's like he's removed it."

"How?" Rossi demanded.

"C-Cutting it out."

"What?! Where was the device located?" Hotch's face showed both worry and anger in equal measure.

"Her right shoulder. We were going to implant it in the left, but….there was a little scar tissue build up from the time she got the brand that we weren't sure how well it would perform."

"Is there no other way to track her?"

"No. She didn't have any credit cards with her, or her cell phone. And this Goodnight fellow is smart enough to not use anything but cash, so he leaves no paper trail…..there was only ever the one tracking device. We never needed more than that."

"Wait a minute where has Rachel gone?" Rossi asked in reference to Alecta's mother. He spun around looking all over the conference room and out into the bull-pen for her.

"What the hell?" Morgan was exasperated. 'The women in this family are enough to drive you to drinking."

"Ain't that the truth." Rossi agreed whole heartedly.

"Says the man currently trying to tame mama bear." JJ said with a slight chuckle in her voice.

"Luckily for us, mama bear isn't as quick on the uptake as baby bear. She stole Rossi's cell, and since it has GPS we can track her,' Garcia chimed in as her fingers began typing furiously on the key board. "We will be able to track at least one of those maddening women."

"And we all know that Mrs. King is at least equally as stubborn as Alecta, she made lead us to her or at least close…."

"And get her fool self killed in the process." Rossi finished Emily's sentence with a huff.

"Agent Rossi, Sir." Garcia called to him.

"What is it Pen?"

"Mrs. King…the GPS….look."

Hotch was about to take off out of the door to the conference room, when Anderson came to the door.

"Sir, this package just arrived for you. It's been through security."

"Thank you Anderson." Hotch nodded to the young agent.

"Yes sir."

Hotch opened the manila envelope carefully; he knew what was likely in there but he was in no rush to find out for sure. The hand holding the envelope itself shook. He had to try a couple of times to tear at the flap; it kept slipping through his fingers. Upon finally getting it open, Hotch lost his grip on the package again; as it fell on the table the contents began to topple out. In a baggy there was the tracking device that had been cut out of Alecta's arm; some of her blood was still on it. Dropping down on top of the baggy…a DVD fell out onto the table.

Hotch grabbed the DVD, he was holding it in both hands, half afraid to play it; he just kept staring at it like it was an alien life form.

"Anderson, get this device down to the techs." Prentiss handed the baggy off to Agent Anderson.

"Yes ma'am. If it will help, I can describe the delivery boy that dropped this off."

After Anderson gave the description of the delivery person to JJ and Prentiss, he left. Everyone turned back around to Hotch; he hadn't even bothered to acknowledge what Anderson had told them…it hadn't registered, he was still looking at the DVD.

"Aaron, do you want Garcia to upload this on the big screen and dig around and see what she can pull off of it?" Rossi asked quietly.

"Y-yes. That would be best." Carefully he handed the disk over to Garcia who inserted it into her laptop.

Garcia popped the disk into her laptop, after tapping a few keys, the images were being played up on the large screen of the conference room. Simultaneously, Garcia was running different programs to see if there was anything recognizable in the background, and she was also keeping an eye on the tracking program that was keeping up with the cell phone that Mrs. King had swiped off of Rossi.

Hotch was looking closely at the video. There was an iron collar around Alecta's neck, which was then shackled to a hook in the floor by a long, heavy chain. She was sitting in the corner of the room on a filthy old mattress; bits of her clothes were torn….the strap on the tank top she'd been wearing to sleep in was torn on one shoulder as was part of the hem near the waistline of the top…her shorts were missing completely, leaving her in only her underwear from the waist down. There was a bruise forming on her cheek. And there was a hand shape bruise on her left bicep and another on her right thigh….you could clearly make out what looked like finger shaped bruises. It had been only going on two hours, and already this pig was rising in the ranks of the BAU shit list.

Hotch began seeing red, and consequently, turning red. Rossi could tell he was on the verge of completely blowing his stack.

Leaning over to speak quietly to Hotch, 'Would you like to step out into the bu…"

"Don't have your dares,' Hotch jerked his arm out of Rossi's grasp. He went back to watching the video.

Mark Goodnight had not initially been in the shot, just Alecta sitting there alone, not looking in the direction of the camera. Soon enough the sound of a door opening and being slammed shut could be heard, Alecta flinched a bit. Everyone could hear Mark Goodnight laughing at the fact that the sound of the slamming door had scared her.

Garcia knew how that sound affected her. She knew what that sound did to Alecta. It took her back to being a scared 4 year old girl, no bigger than Sofie or Emma…she had just watched her mom get beaten, she thought she was dead….and her father had just walked out of the house, Mrs. King's blood all over him, slamming the door shut behind him, leaving little Alecta alone with her dying mother. Garcia could see it in Alecta's eyes as she watched the video; she could tell where Alecta was at in her mind, at least to a point.

The team watched as Alecta moved off of the mattress and went to stand up and get as far away from Mark as the chain she was attached to would allow her. Mark stepped forward and grabbed a length of the chain and tugged, causing her to fall forward, putting her hands and arms out in front of her to break her fall a bit.

"There's nowhere to go. I can understand why Agent Hotchner likes you. You wore me out you little minx." Turning to face the camera, 'See Hotchner, I told you she was nothing but a whore like the rest of them. She was begging for it…."

Hotch wasn't listening to a word Mark Goodnight said after that, he looked beyond that dead man and straight at Alecta. He could tell by the look in her eyes that that wasn't true, that Mark was merely trying to goad him.

By the time that Hotch's attention turned back to the video, he saw Mark walking closer to Alecta….that was the wrong thing to do…

"Oh yeah, come closer. I'll be the best you ever had." Alecta laid it on thick.

"My dear, your reputation precedes you. I'm not that stupid." The next thing everyone notices is that Mark has pulled a stun gun and shot her with it, rendering her unable to fend for herself; her body instantly crumpled to the floor.

After stunning Alecta, Mark took her back to the mattress, removing the chain from her collar, changing it out for a shorter one and connecting this new shorter chain to another hook in the floor.

Sparing the camera a quick glance, Mark smiled evilly knowing that the agents were watching, 'Wouldn't want her making a break for it would we? I wonder if she screamed like this for you."

The remainder of the video was mostly of Mark Goodnight's sexual assault against Alecta, part of which she was still knocked out for since he had shot her with the stun gun.

None of the team wanted to watch, but they had no choice; they had to try to inspect the environment in the video to see if there was any way to form a hypothesis as to the location. They had to pay attention to the sounds, beyond the sounds caused by the assault being filmed….Was there a highway nearby? A railroad track? Were they in a subdivision? These were things they had to narrow down as quickly as possible.

"Well, you were right." Mark commented dryly as he picked himself off of the mattress as he finished his assault on Alecta. As he got up to leave the room, leaving her still on that shorter chain, Alecta merely pulled her knees up to her chest, wrapping her arms around them…curling up into a ball, and turned her back to the camera. Nobody could mistake the sound of a sniffle as she did so.

Mark couldn't resist taking one last parting shot at Hotch as he made his way to turn off the camera

"Just so you know, I had initially come for you. None of this would have happened if she had just stayed out of the way. But this has been even more rewarding than I could ever have hoped for. I look forward to seeing you soon." The last image that the team had of the video was of Alecta in the back ground, still curled up, back to the room, and Mark Goodnight leering at the camera and winking.

With that the screen went black, the camera having been switched off. Hotch propelled himself out of his seat and began running for the door.

**Post AN: So, that's chapter 21. That's not exactly how I expected it to go, but it is what it is. Sometimes that's what happens when you let the chapter write itself. And by all means, if any of my readers have any ideas or suggestions, drop them by me and I'll see if I can get some of them in. Let me know what you think I'm doing wrong or right, whatever. It's all good.**


	22. Chapter 22

**Chpt. 22**

**So the last chapter was a bummer as far as Alecta was concerned. Let's see if we can't do something about that sicko that took her.**

Rossi was making his way to the door of the conference room as he turned and sternly told Garcia, 'Track the shit out of my phone and send whatever you can to our tablets."

"Yes sir, of course."

With that he started to leave the conference room again; as he left, he patted himself down a bit, checking for his side arm.

"Sonofabitch!" He was livid.

"Rossi, what on earth?…' Emily raised her eyebrows and asked in astonishment.

"When Rachel nicked my cell phone, she swiped my gun."

Derek tossed Rossi one of his guns, 'Take it, I can get another."

With that Rossi went in search of Hotch, finding him in his office double checking to make sure he was properly armed; as a matter of fact as Rossi came into the room, Hotch was popping a fresh clip into the glock.

"You can't kill everybody that lays a hand on her."

"Why not? We've tried the whole prison thing and, as you can tell, he escaped. He _won't_ be escaping anything ever again."

"Aaron, listen to yourself. This is vigilante justice."

"Yep.' A clicking sound was made as Hotch checked the ammunition in his spare fire arm. "I promised her that things like this would quit happening. If I fail the only thing left to do is fix it."

"Killing him won't undo everything he's done up to this point."

"You know…you're right. But it will stop him from ever doing it again. Of that, I'm 100% certain."

"Aaron…."

"Look, he came for me. The only reason he didn't get to me was because she wouldn't let him. All I can do is go and save her. Are you coming or not?" Hotch turned and began making his way out of his office, Rossi had to nearly jog to keep up with him.

The entire team in two different SUVs fairly well peeled out of the parking garage headed in the direction that Garcia's data said they should go.

Within an hour they had arrived in the town they needed to be. It was quite rural. In most towns they have suburbs with nicely manicured subdivisions, houses that are cookie-cutter.

Out here, there were a few derelict older homes; some were probably close to a hundred years old. Some houses were still inhabited. But, regardless of the age of the home or the state of habitation, everything was spread out….farm land mostly. There was an old brick school house on one side of the road.

As the team drove through the area, it wasn't lost on them that this was much like the area that Alecta had grown up in. Inwardly, each of them smiled at how much she had taught them about places like this, just by being around. Now when they looked at an abandoned house they didn't see an old death trap falling in on itself….instead they tried to picture what the family that had once lived there had been like. Driving past the old school house, which was also abandoned, they had to stop at the one traffic light in the town. While they were stopped, Rossi turned to look out of his passenger window. In one of the first story windows, he spotted an image of a child, head and shoulders peeking out of the window. Without turning away from the image, he poked Hotch with his elbow causing him to look around. As they pulled away, Rossi smiled at the child who gave an impish smile back before vanishing completely. He would have to look up this school and try to find out about the child. That was another way that Alecta had changed them.

After another 15 minutes of driving, Garcia's voice could be heard on the tablets that the team had, one manned by Rossi, and the other by Reid in the other SUV.

"Ok, guys, it looks like the place you're looking for is approximately 100yards to the left, there's a long driveway. My best guess based on the phone's GPS is that this is the place. Be careful. And Bossman…."

"Yes Garcia?"

"Shoot to kill." With that, Garcia tapped out and went back to whatever work she needed to do; she needed to find out the Identity of the inmate that Mark Goodnight had switched with. What his name and serial number was, where was this person now? All of these things, and she was going to have to hack a few places to get it. As tedious as it was going to be it was still going to be a hell of a lot faster than having to actually speak to prison officials; it's not like they would admit to letting this slip through the cracks anyway.

In the hour or so that it took the team to get out to this old place, Mark Goodnight had raped Alecta yet again. From the time that Alecta had gone missing up to this point had only been 4 ½ hours, and she had been assaulted repeatedly. JJ and Prentiss had managed to have the forethought to bring a bag with a pair of jogging pants and an FBI t-shirt for Alecta to put on when they found her, it wasn't much, but at least she would be able to have some clothing.

After leaving Alecta laying on the squalid mattress curled up in a ball yet again, Mark went to get cleaned up and get himself something to drink. He had every intention of killing her in front of Agent Hotchner and then he would kill Agent Hotchner himself. He saw Alecta as a whore, just like all other women, that didn't know her place. And Agent Hotchner, well he had to die for thwarting Marks work and the death of his brother. And he also had to die because he was helping the whore.

When Mark walked into the kitchen in this ramshackle house, he reached into the small cooler he'd brought with him and grabbed a beer. It was nice and cold going down, he took his time. Suddenly he heard a floorboard creek. Steadying himself, Mark spun around and swung on the person standing behind him with enough force that he knocked them completely off of their feet.

"Oh, what do we have here?" Mark was almost giddy with excitement over his stroke of good luck. 'Why, it's the whore's mother. It's so very nice to meet you." Sarcasm oozed from every pore on Mark Goodnights body as he leaned over, grabbing Mrs. King by the hair, pulling her up forcefully, knotting his hand in her hair tightly. "And you brought me a present, how kind." As he lifted Mrs. King to her feet, he grabbed the gun she had dropped when he struck her.

"You know, I must say that I truly expected those damned agents first. But this is even better. If I didn't know better I would swear it was my birthday or Christmas."

"Where's my baby at? And don't get too smug ya bastard, you _**will**_ die today."

"Perhaps, but, not before I have a little more fun. I am not done with her yet. She's so damned feisty, it'll be a crying shame when I have to put her down. But that's just how it goes. Although, she seems to be getting a little worn out, I wonder if I were to….well yes, that just might work."

'_The maniac is talking to himself? This can't be good.'_ Mrs. King thought to herself.

Grabbing a tighter hold on Mrs. King, Mark made his way back to the room where he was keeping Alecta. Kicking at her with his shoe as if she was nothing more than a carcass, 'Wakey, wakey. I have something to show you." He waited, no response. He kicked her harder, causing her to turn to face him if only to make sure he didn't kick her unnecessarily again and risk hurting the babies, if they weren't already.

"I said, I have something to show you. I think you'll love this." Alecta's eyes tried to focus as Mark shoved her mother into her line of vision.

"So should I let you rest and maybe see if your mother is half as good as you are?"

"Don't you have your dares. I will kill you."

"Hardly….at least anytime soon. Make me a better offer." Mark paused, 'I'm just joking, she's too old for me. But I will have to kill her later. She's a whore just like you. She tried to leave her husband. No wonder you turned out the way you did with an example like that for a mother." He started leaving the room with Rachel in his grasp.

"Where are you taking her?"

"Into one of the other rooms. The way I see things….if I bind her up in the other room, the sounds she hears coming from in here will either make her want to die or kill me…more. _Or_ on the flip side of the coin….you being chained up in here, will be tortured by her screams while we get acquainted." Looking at Rachel, who was still stuck tightly in his grasp, 'Although, I'm sure those bedeviled agents are closing in on our location and we likely only have two hours at most. You will have to learn fast. Alecta was a natural."

"Don't hurt her." Alecta fairly well pleaded for her mother.

"Well, how nice I am to her depends in large part on how happy you make me when I come back." With that Mark turned and drug Rachel out into the hall and slammed the door shut.

Alecta rolled over onto her back looking up at the ceiling. She hated to admit that she was starting to give up. _Damned pregnancy hormones; I should be busting in there and settling this. _But she knew it was as much about age as it was about her pregnancy. In her 20's she had gone charging into things without a care in the world. But over the last 20 odd years she'd lost a lot. After you lose so much you get to a point where you just can't do this kind of thing anymore. It was almost time to hang up her 'Wonder Woman' lasso and cape and call it a day.

As she lay there thinking, she noticed a red dot that had formed on the wall above where her head was lying. She stared at it momentarily and realized it was from some sort of equipment the team uses. The light started blinking. She suddenly had some sort of hope….the team was there. Twenty bucks said it was Derek blinking the light. Alecta would ask Garcia to kiss him for her when they got out of this; and she would make sure that the woman knew to make it count….as in _he_ should get knocked up from the kiss when it was over. She'd do it herself, but…well….Hotch may not care for it…and she was friends with Garcia. It would make things awkward if the kid came out looking like Alecta.

Scrambling as quickly as she could, she got as close to the window as the chain linked to her collar would allow her. She found an old section of some long forgotten newspaper. Next she reached as far as she could with her arms and raised the window ever so slightly. As soon as there was enough room through the open window, she balled up the paper and tossed it out of the window to signal that someone was in that room.

Derek had gone around the back of the house with JJ and Reid; Hotch, Rossi, and Prentiss had taken the front. They had crept up on the property quietly, no lights or sirens, and they parked up nearly 20 yards from the house in the hopes that the creep wouldn't see or hear them coming.

Derek had hit upon the idea of using the red laser beam after that case where Prentiss and Reid had been held hostage by the cult a few years ago. He only hoped that Alecta was in the room to see it and understood. He only had to flash the light about four or five times before he saw the paper come out of the window.

JJ saw it as well and immediately called Hotch to let him know that they'd found her.

Whispering, "Reid, I'm getting a closer look, you two cover me." Reid nodded and JJ cocked the assault rifle.

Derek made it to the window, the door to the room burst open, Morgan had to duck down low to keep from being seen.

"Put this on, you're coming with me." Derek heard Mark growl at Alecta.

"Where are you taking me?"

"Shut up and put it on." Mark had thrown a large men's shirt at her to use to cover her nudity, 'If your idiot mother can find me this fast it will only be a matter of time before Agent Hotchner does as well."

Derek could hear the chain that had been used to trap her rattling. Mark had come over to unlock the pad lock that had held it down to the hook in the floor.

After sliding the shirt on, Alecta tried again, 'Where are you taking me?"

Suddenly Derek heard a smacking sound….likely Mark had just backhanded Alecta….then Derek heard her hit the floor with a grunt. He knew what she was trying to do, but he wished she would just play it cool. Derek could hear Mark grabbing the chain again, jerking it and dragging Alecta along to rush her…

"I think you've almost outlived your usefulness to me….but we have a little time."

"Where's momma?"

Mark yanked the chain again, causing Alecta to stumble again, 'whores aren't allowed to talk. Now come on."

Derek made his way back over to JJ and Reid instead of trying to climb through the window; he needed to relay what he had seen and heard so they could warn the others. As he crept back over to his team mates he began to think that if this monster had been treating Pen this way, he'd rip the guy's throat out with his bare hand, and Derek knew that if Hotch had any idea what was happening he'd think the exact same thing.

In another part of the house, Mark was dragging Alecta to a room that might have been an old bedroom; it was hard to tell, but it did have yet another old dingy, foul smelling mattress lying on the floor.

In a matter of minutes Alecta situation had changed. Somewhere in this hell hole, Mark had hidden her mother, likely restrained; Alecta was second or third generation 'don't give a fuck'….who did everybody think she got it from. And also she knew that the team was close by. She knew that she had to do whatever was necessary to keep Mark from turning on her mother, if that meant that she got it a little worse, so be it. And the thought of the team being so close had emboldened her a bit, whatever fight that she had lost had returned, at least briefly. She had to do something. Alecta was completely calm in her decision to provoke Mark; she knew that if everything went south that her team was close enough to kill him. Outside of the fact that it would put her unborn twins at even more risk than they already had been, nothing else mattered to her; she didn't feel as though she had a lot of choice, she knew what must be done.

Mark threw Alecta down on the mattress with every intention of crawling up on top of her until she managed to scramble away; all he had to do was grab the length of chain and yank it backwards, causing Alecta to stumble and fall on her ass.

"I almost forgot, you like it rough….at least that's what I've heard from certain sources" punching her square in the face, 'Don't do that again."

Spitting blood from where her lip had just been busted, 'You hit like a bitch. Come here and let me show you how it's done."

"I was born at night but not last night. You have a tendency to kill your opponents."

"Scared?"

"Hardly."

"Prove it."

Mark shot Alecta a second time with the stun gun, but this time he used less voltage than he had the first time. Next, he tossed her back onto the mattress.

"By the time I get done with you, your dear Agent Hotchner won't even be able to stand the sight of you, let alone being with you again. He'll finally learn what you really are. Of course, if I do my job right, none of that will really matter anyway, you'll be dead."

Mark began to climb back on top of Alecta; she continued to try to fight him….her efforts were futile, she was still quite weak from taking two hits from a stun gun.

As Mark's hands roamed her body, his fingers entering her, he had a thought, 'You know, the only regret that I have is that either my brother or Fletcher couldn't be here to enjoy this."

Finally came the moment that Alecta had been dreading. Mark positioned his body to prepare to enter her yet again.

As Mark forced his way into Alecta's body his face was buried close to her neck and he began taunting her again.

"Yes. I may as well kill you before your precious team gets here. Damn sure Hotchner won't want what's left when I'm done; and the others will probably detest the mere mention of your name, just like before. You remember, you sacrificed everything for the greater good then too, and what did you get for your trouble? Besides, don't want you passing your whore tendencies to anybody else. We can't have that."

One of the movements he made into her hurt really bad, more than the others….Alecta couldn't believe the pain.

She thought about her babies, all of them, and decided that if she was going to die anyway, she might as well take one last shot. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath she silently begged that, if God ever cared for her at all, that he would intervene now.

With a silent tear sliding down each cheek, Alecta raked her fingernails down Mark's face. The pain caused him to raise up just enough that she could get her knee up and get him right in his vital parts, this caused him to roll off of her and double over.

As soon as he had moved off of her, Alecta crawled off of the mattress intending to make a run for it. She didn't get very far. Mark had time to grab the chain and snatch it backwards.

"You are going to pay for that!" he roared right into her face.

Alecta had no way of that during the time that Mark had been away from her he had tasered her mother as well and tied her up in a different room of the house after smacking her around a bit as well. Also, the team was silently making their way into the house and clearing it room by room.

Rossi, Prentiss, and Reid were tasked with finding Rachel, Alecta's mother. Hotch, Morgan, and JJ were on the hunt to find Alecta.

In the meantime, Mark had snatched the chain again, dragging Alecta back to the mattress. He began smacking her face back and forth, alternating with back handed slaps as well.

This time as Mark continued to rape Alecta he pulled a knife from under the mattress holding it in one hand to threaten her with it, and using his other hand to tightly squeeze her throat. This time the pain from the assault had become completely unbearable. After everything Alecta had been through, she could honestly say she hadn't been physically hurt this bad in long time. The hand around her throat kept getting tighter.

Suddenly, there was a creek in the floorboards. Everybody on the team halted, although, it was really too late, Mark had heard them.

Finishing his final assault on Alecta, Mark pulled out, getting his clothes pulled back together. He leaned across Alecta grabbing some kind of plastic bag. He wrapped it around her head as tight as he could possibly get it, and then he used the length of chain to wrap around the end of the bag that was covering her throat. Next, Mark rolled Alecta over and tied her hands behind her back. After that was accomplished he rolled her back over onto her back, scooped her up, slinging her over his shoulder. He carried her over to a closet, opening the door with his free hand, and slung her roughly into a footlocker that was in there. He shut the footlocker, placing a padlock on it to secure it shut. Then he shut the closet door.

As satisfied with his work as he could be, Mark took off out of the room only to encounter Rossi, Prentiss, and Reid.

"Mark Goodnight! Freeze!"

"I don't think so old man!" Mark took out the gun that he had managed to pick off of Rachel and shot Rossi, hitting him in the leg. Reid caught Rossi as he went down so he wouldn't hit the floor with his full weight.

Once he had fired his shot at Rossi, Mark took off, heading for a back door. Reid took out his phone and signaled to Hotch and the rest that he was on the run and that Prentiss was in hot pursuit.

"JJ and I will join Prentiss, you go get Lex." Derek assured Hotch. Hotch was at a standstill in his mind. Yes, he wanted to go get Alecta, but he wanted to be the one to catch Mark Goodnight just as badly. Of course he couldn't be trusted not to shoot the man right between the eyes, recent past events have proven that where Alecta was concerned, and perhaps it was better that he was kept as far away from this son of a bitch as he could be. Besides, he was chomping at the bit to get Alecta back.

As Derek turned to join JJ in pursuit of Mark, Hotch turned back into the house and stumbled upon Reid and Rossi in the hall.

"Dave?"

"Don't worry about me. I'll live." He was trying to find a less painful way to get up, with Reid's assistance.

"Hotch! He came running out of that room over there, that door to the right." Reid instructed as he helped Rossi up. Reid was going to help Rossi get as close to the front door as he could so when the paramedics arrived they could get to him easily.

Hotch turned to enter the room, but Rossi stopped him, 'Aaron, he had blood on his clothes." It was as if Rossi was trying to prepare him for the worst in some small way.

Hotch turned and ran even faster into the room. Looking around as he passed through the door, all he saw was that filthy mattress. He gasped, there was a small blood pool on it….his mind began racing as to where the blood had come from. There was some blood on the floor, a little spatter…..still he couldn't put it together in his mind where it might have come from. He didn't see any sign of Alecta. Looking around a bit more closely, he noticed a closed door across the room. Racing over to the door Hotch realized it was a closet. There was nothing of any great…seeing the sealed foot locker Hotch grabbed one of the handles and pulled it out of the closet carefully.

_What am I going to find?_ Hotch wondered to himself. Looking carefully he realized that the locker actually had a lock on it holding it shut. Running over to the mattress he flipped it over in hopes of finding a key. No such luck. He began striking at the lock with the butt of his gun, apparently he wasn't hitting it hard enough to do any damage. Standing up and stepping back a few steps, Hotch pulled his gun and shot at the lock, hoping that the bullet wouldn't enter the locker. Shooting it worked, the lock fell off. Leaning over, Hotch fairly well ripped the lid open.

His eyes widened at what he'd found, 'NO! We need medics in here, NOW!"

Hotch scooped Alecta out of the box, the plastic bag still wrapped tightly around her head, chain still around her throat. He set to work immediately trying to remove the bag from her face. It would have taken too long to unwind the chain, so he just ripped through the bag, that would give her some space to breath, if she could, while he got the chain unwrapped. Alecta wasn't moving. Hotch soon had his answer to where the blood had come from. When he tore the bag open he saw that her lip was busted, that might account for some of the spatter he had seen on the floor next to the mattress. And as he was working on getting the chain unwound from around her neck he noticed a stab wound that was around her rib cage, explaining the blood pool on the mattress. He also noticed, as he was unwrapping the chain, that her skin was changing pallor; it was taking on a grayish tint.

_Damn waiting for EMT's!_ He had initially wanted to wait for the paramedics because of her pregnant state he didn't want to risk doing more damage. But, she had been suffocated by that damned bag, stabbed, raped (which that alone was enough to drive him into a blind psychotic rage), and beaten—who knows how badly. After getting the chain from around her neck, he rolled her over carefully and untied her hands, and then settled her back down on her back beginning CPR.

It took less than three minutes for two EMT's to rush into the room from the time Hotch had yelled for them, it took a while to get there; it was so far from….everything else.

The EMT's kept trying to get close enough to Alecta to work on her, but they couldn't get past Hotch, he wouldn't stop administering CPR; every time they tried to pull him away, he shrugged them off.

"Agent Hotchner, let us take over." One EMT demanded.

It didn't seem to sink in; Hotch was going on about having to keep going until help arrived.

Somewhere in the distance there were three shots fired in rather rapid fire succession. Hotch stopped only briefly to look up, and then once he realized what the sound was he went right back to continuing CPR, and the EMT's were still trying to pull him away.

It wasn't until Morgan came rushing back into the room, hearing Hotch argue with the paramedics that he stepped forward and grabbed Hotch by both arms from behind, pulling him away that the medics could even get close. As it was, Hotch had done his level best to break Morgan's grasp on him but it didn't work.

"Come one man, let them do their jobs. We'll go outside and get some air…."

"No. I'm not leaving her side." Hotch didn't take his eyes off of where Alecta was lying in the floor. He could see the shape of Mark Goodnight's hand and fingers around her throat.

"We've got a pulse,' one of the paramedics could be heard to say….that is Morgan heard it. Hotch couldn't hear a thing besides the blood rushing through his veins. Then he saw the boy, the boy from earlier, when he and Dave were at the traffic light….the one from the school. Looking up from where the paramedics were getting Alecta settled on a gurney, Hotch saw the boy standing behind one of the medics, sort of to the left.

Without even flinching, the boy looked at him and smiled, 'She can't die ya know that right mister? If she's told you once, she's told you a thousand times, she can't die." Hotch thought about it for a split second, and that does sound like something that would come out of her mouth. He nodded at the young boy, the boy winked at him quickly and turned to go away….as the boy left, Hotch could hear him say, 'I'm coming mama."

Hotch was shaken out of his thoughts when he heard Morgan pronounce, 'He's riding with her." With that Hotch was quickly ushered into the back of the waiting ambulance, still pondering what he had just witnessed and thinking over all that was to come next.

**Post AN: Freaky, huh? Well I will explain what the three shots were for in the next chapter…as well as possibly getting around to Alecta being allowed to leave the hospital….we shall see. Love ya peeps. **


	23. Chapter 23

**Chpt. 23**

**Can't believe the lack of quotes that I can find that suit me enough to be added to these chapters….I'm sure they are out there, but none of them have really struck me. **

The paramedics had been able to do little else but keep Alecta stabilized until they got to the hospital, and they were barely able to do that; she flat-lined twice on the way there. The second time, they were struggling to get her back and Hotch grabbed her hand on impulse and told her she damned well better wake up and that was an order. "Besides, I've heard it said before that you can't be killed. So don't even think about it." Oddly enough, she stabilized, opened her eyes, and even spoke….it was barely above a whisper, and it was raspy….but she spoke.

"You aren't the boss of me." She gave him a weak smile and a wink before her eyes shut again; she didn't regain consciousness again on the way to the hospital.

At the hospital the doctors were able to stitch up the stab wound and stop the bleeding from that. Next they ordered an ultrasound to see to the state of the pregnancy and some x-rays to see if there were any internal injuries. According to the ultrasound, the babies were miraculously just perfect, even if the baby boy was kicking rather raucously in protest, and it looked like his sister was smacking at him with a balled up fist to make him be still. This actually made the doctor chuckle in spite of himself; that little girl would likely be very tiny, but she was already quite a bossy little one, and it was likely that the little boy was going to give everybody a run for their money. The doctor looked over at Alecta, still unconscious, 'It's a shame you can't see this, they're actually quite entertaining. But I'll record it so you can watch it with your friends when you wake up. And their heartbeats are quite strong, they are a little more stressed than we'd like to see them, but considering all of the circumstances today, it explains a lot. I will tell your people out there that we will keep you for at least 48 hours, merely for observational purposes, as long as the attending physician sees fit."

The x-rays didn't show any broken bones which was amazing. The worst of it was a shit ton of bruising all over her body from the beatings.

Mrs. King had been looked over, she was in quite good condition when compared to her daughter, there was only some bruising on her face and around her ribs and stomach where Mark had beaten her, but other than that, there were no serious injuries. She was allowed to go sit in the waiting room with the rest of the team, Rossi not leaving her side once she got settled. She looked up at JJ and Prentiss, who were just grinning at her, and rolled her eyes. Rossi himself had undergone having to have the bullet removed from his leg before getting stitched up; he was given crutches to help alleviate any unnecessary strain on the injured leg, but all in all he was safe to go home.

The team and Mrs. King were getting antsy, it had been 3 hours since they had gotten here, to the hospital, and they had heard nothing. After another hour a doctor came out to give them the lowdown; he had called out Alecta's name and was taken aback at how many people stood to represent.

Regaining his composure, 'Well, she will live. We have stitched up her stab wound and established that there was no internal bleeding of any kind, so that's a bonus. There were no broken bones. The babies are alright. I have to warn you though, she will have trouble speaking for several days, if she's able to speak at all."

Hotch's head snapped up, paying closer attention than ever, 'What are you talking about?"

"It seems that there was some damage to her larynx. I don't want to go so far as to say it was crushed, but it was damaged, and that will make it difficult for her to speak…it may even render her unable to so for several days, even up to a couple of weeks. I am recommending that, under the circumstances, she be kept here for up to 48 hours for observation."

"If she is alright, why should she stay?" JJ and Garcia had come forward and were ready to pounce on the doctor if his argument wasn't strong enough.

"Well, while she is doing better…she is still unconscious, unable to speak…and the babies, though doing well, were slightly distressed due to the situation that they were in. I just want to make sure that she wakes up as healthy as possible, and to make sure that there are no residual effects on the babies. She may not even be required to stay the entire 48 hours, but I was just using that time frame as a precaution. If she improves enough, she can go home sooner than that. Now, I'm going to check on her one more time, and have her placed in a room. A nurse will come and get you when you are allowed to visit her." With that, the doctor left them to mull over everything that they had learned.

"Mrs. King will see her first. The rest of you can go in pairs. I'm staying the night…"

"I'll have them move a cot into the room or something."

"Thanks Dave."

Twenty minutes later a young nurse, a lady in her late 20's or early 30's came to get the team and lead them to a different area of the floor, closer to where Alecta's room would be and then instructed them that they had to make a left down the first corridor they came to and then her room was the third one on the right down that hall. Of course the nurse couldn't help but give Hotch the once over; most women wouldn't be able to blame her, hell, some men couldn't blame her.

"Ma'am…' Reid spoke quietly as they walked down the hall to the new waiting room.

"Yes?"

"I saw you checking out Agent Hotchner."

"And?"

"While I may understand why you did it, I am inclined to give you a warning."

"What kind of warning would that be?"

"You can look all that you want, get an eyeful. But that is as close as you will ever get to him. He is impossibly in love with our friend. And, our friend…..How can I put this delicately?" Reid thought momentarily. "Oh yeah…When she wakes up, and she will, if she catches you with your eyes or **any** other part of your body anywhere near her man, she **will** remove them.

"Whatever you say."

"Come on kid; let her find out the hard way." Morgan said with a chuckle as he walked past.

The team all went in for a moment just to get the lay of the land so to speak, to commit it to memory just where the room was and how it was laid out. Mrs. King had set about ordering an extra blanket for her daughter and trying to rake some of Alecta's hair out of her face, meanwhile muttering about how the man that did this had better be glad he was dead.

Yes, Mark Goodnight was dead. He had run from the house. JJ, Morgan, and Prentiss had given chase. They thought they were closing in on him, but he seemed to be one step ahead of them. They came to a section that was near the edge of some woods and seemed to have lost him until he jumped out grabbing Emily. There was an argument over whether or not he would drop his gun. Emily grew tired of the whole ordeal; she was not a very patient person. So, she had head-butted him, punching him in the ribs, and stomped his foot..all of these things together causing him to release his hold on Emily. As soon as she was free of his grasp, she dropped to the ground and JJ and Morgan fired three shots into his body. JJ's shot had caught him between the eyes; Morgan's two shots…one caught Mark in the chest, just millimeters away from his heart and the other had hit him in the spleen. There had been no hope for the monster, no matter what happened, he was going to bleed out.

One by one every trickled out of Alecta's room, leaving her mother behind to visit for a little while, until Rossi came to get her and take her home.

He didn't miss the look on Rachel's face as they exited the room, 'We can come by some tomorrow and see her again. And she may even be awake by then."

"It's just that every time I turn my back, something bad happens to her. Damn! We've forgotten to call Rachel and the kids."

"Let me take care of that when we get home. You can take some of your pain meds and catch a nap."

The look he gave her brooked no argument, "Very well. I'd much rather you face Rachel's wrath than me anyway. She inherited her mother's temper you know?"

"You…"

JJ rolled her eyes at the two older people, "Well, I need to be getting home to my two men. Call me if you need anything Hotch."

"Yes, of course. Thank you."

Reid caught a ride home with JJ. Morgan and Garcia were the last two of the team to leave. They made sure that Hotch was settled at least for the next couple of hours, getting him something to drink and a snack from the cafeteria before they took off. Upon turning to shut the door to Alecta's room, Morgan watched Hotch settle down in his chair that was pulled next to the bed and rest his head on his arm that was folded while he grabbed her hand with his free one. Derek shook his head; he couldn't say he blamed the man. If Pen was in the hospital bed, Derek knew that he'd be in Hotch's exact position. That thought caused Derek to shiver; he didn't even want to think of Pen being back in a hospital bed anytime soon, especially not unconscious, unable to see her sparkly brown eyes teasing him…and that laugh. No, it would kill him. He couldn't imagine what was holding Hotch together. If only…

According to the clock on the wall it was about to turn 4 am. Alecta looked around and surmised that she was in the hospital. When she couldn't readily move her hand she looked carefully and saw why. There was a headful of dark hair resting very nearly on her hand it was so close, and the grip that was holding it was strong enough that she would have to struggle to be let go. Carefully she worked her hand free, trying not to wake Hotch. She took a second to stroke his hair and watch his face as he slept. Even though he wasn't her typical type, he was still quite handsome…she'd be foolish not to think so. He had to be every bit of 6'1, dark hair, sharp features, and his eyes….they were quite nice, too. Yeah, she was fairly certain that she could do a lot worse…Hell, she had done a lot worse.

Soon, the independent streak in Alecta hit, she had to go use the restroom, and she had to figure out how to get out of the bed without waking Hotch. She was sure as hell sore in places she couldn't pronounce, but she had to get up. Finally, she scooted off of the bed, trying to be extra careful. She was almost home free, with in like seven steps of the bathroom door when she heard his voice….

"Where the hell are you going?"

Alecta stopped in her tracks and sort of winced at being caught.

"Lex? Where were you going?" Hotch drew out her name…it was almost like when she was with the twins and Sofie did something that would potentially get her in trouble.

"The bathroom,' she shrugged. "I, um…."

Hotch made it over to her rather quickly, surprising her really by how fast he made the trip. She just looked up at him, her brows creased a bit as if she was trying to figure him out.

"You should have paged for a nurse or something." Hotch states simply as he scoops her up, trying to be mindful of her injuries.

Alecta just shrugged, 'Eh."

Hotch shook his head, she didn't even argue about being carried everywhere now; perhaps, between himself and Morgan, it had been over-done. Hotch refused to apologize for it regardless.

He set her down in the restroom and then shut the door to give her some privacy with the instruction to let him know when she was ready to go back to bed.

After finishing her potty break and washing her hands she knocked on the inside of the bathroom door to signal that he needed to let her out. "You do know that carrying me around everywhere is going to spoil me and I'm well on my way to being a small parade float."

"Then hush and let me enjoy this as long as I can."

Alecta had her right arm wrapped around Aaron's neck, watching his face, especially his eyes as he spoke.

"You….You enjoy doing all this?' seeing his sturdy gaze as he nodded two or three times, "Well, alright. But only because you leave me with little choice."

Hotch placed her back on the bed and got her comfortable, pulling the covers up to make sure she was warm enough.

"Why didn't you wake me up and let me know you had regained consciousness?"

"You were sleeping. After these last few weeks, especially yesterday, I figured you needed the rest. I didn't have the heart to wake you up."

"I've been worried you wouldn't…."

"I always snap out of it. I wonder if Garcia would be up to going shopping with me, I may need a few things if I do blimp out….I don't have any of my old maternity stuff anymore." She was beginning to ramble a bit.

"Well, you need the rest more than I do."

Alecta gave off a huge yawn, trying to stifle it a little bit, 'Perhaps you're right, just this once."

She rolled up on her good side a little bit to face Hotch as he talked to her some more. He explained that Rossi was going to call her daughter and let her know what was going on. As Hotch went on about a few other little details, he noticed how quiet Alecta seemed to have gotten. Looking down he realized that she had fallen back asleep, holding on to his hand almost as tight as he had been to hers before.

As he held her hand his thumb brushed over her fingers examining how small they were; Jack's hands were almost the exact same size, and he was nearly 9 years old. Seeing that the rest of their conversation would have to wait, Hotch swept some hair out of Alecta's face before he settled back into his previous position.

Fifteen minutes later Alecta came awake with a sharp pain, 'OW!"

Hotch immediately snapped to attention, 'What is it? What happened?"

Before Alecta could answer him he could see a sharp kick coming from inside her body.

"Oh my God, I think he's trying to kill me." Alecta nearly doubled over in pain. Seeing Hotch's confused look, 'Mighty Mouse woke up. Mommy's sorry, just please stop kicking the shit out of me already,' she was rubbing her invisible baby belly. "Please, please stop kicking me."

Hotch could tell it was hurting her because each kick seemed to move her a fraction of an inch across the bed. He hit the nurse on call button to have someone come and check Alecta out.

The nurse that had been checking him out earlier happened to be the one that came to see what the trouble was.

"How can I help you, sir?"

"My girlfriend is pregnant with twins, and one of them is kicking her to pieces, she's in a lot of pain."

The woman tried to hide her glare from Hotch and Alecta, but being a world class profiler, Hotch caught it.

"Yes, I'd say it's pretty normal, especially given the circumstances she was brought in here under."

By now, Alecta had curled up almost into a ball from the pain she was in from the baby kicking, rubbing her tummy. She kept saying she was sorry and begging the baby to stop kicking, tears were streaking down her cheeks.

"Well can you send a doctor in, I'd like a second opinion if you don't mind."

"Sure thing, but you're really over reacting, as I've seen women go through similar things before when they have high stress pregnancies."

"All the same…"

"Yes, I'll send a doctor in straightaway."

"Thank you."

The doctor could hear Hotch and Alecta talking quietly amongst themselves as he approached the door, 'Its ok, Aaron, the babies are just freaked out; a lot has happened in the last 24 hours. Besides, he's a typical little boy. I'll be fine."

The last sentence was kind of breathy as the baby must've kicked yet again, knocking the wind out of Alecta with how hard it was.

Knocking before entering, 'Agent Davis, what seems to be the problem?"

"Baby ninjas. But I can make him stop. I swear I can. You don't have to give me anything for it, just let me try."

"Very well, go for it. Let's see what you got."

"Hmmmm….alright, alright.' Rubbing her belly some more, 'Come on Squish, tell your brother we're going to play the quiet game. Whoever is quiet the longest will win."

There was one more really hard kick, like the others had been. Then right after that there was a smaller gentler kick, it seemed to actually tickle a little bit, because Alecta actually chuckled when it happened.

"See, I told ya. Now, you can wait here for a minute or two to see if it worked for sure or not."

So the doctor did wait, he waited five minutes to be exact, and there was not another kick period in the entire five minutes.

"Well, I'll be damned." Hotch and the doctor said in unison.

"Now, if you don't mind, I have to get back to sleep."

"Yes ma'am Agent Davis. Oh, Agent Hotchner, I have made arrangements to have somebody bring a cot in here, should you decide to get more comfortable."

"Thank you doctor, I think that may come in handy."

"Have me paged if there are any other issues that pop up; I have to finish making my rounds. You be careful young lady."

"Doctor, there is just one other thing."

"Yes Agent Hotchner?"

"That nurse that was in here earlier…."

"Yes sir?"

"I'd like a different nurse attending to Alecta from now on. I can't explain it, but I just didn't care for that other young woman at all, something about her attitude….it's hard to describe. But after everything that Alecta has been through in the last 24 hour or so, I don't want anything else to stress her out if I can stop it."

"Not a problem. I can have Nurse Crabtree take over as your primary nurse for the rest of you stay if needs be. She's a bit older, has a bit more experience, better bedside manner. These younger women just don't seem to understand sometimes. It makes it difficult for the good ones."

"Thank you doctor."

"Of course, it's no problem at all."

Within just a couple minutes of the doctor leaving, Alecta had dozed back off, Hotch had not been ready to give up his original position yet; he was still in the chair, resting his head on the bed next to Alecta, holding her hand as tightly as before.

Twenty or 25 minutes into their current nap, Alecta woke up from a horrible nightmare, at least that's how she chose to understand it. She began trying to shake Hotch to wake him up, but it wasn't working. She couldn't rouse him, 'Wake up. Please, please wake up!" Nothing was working. She looked up from her task and saw a strange man standing in her room. He was stocky, only slightly shorter than Hotch. He was wearing a suit, although it was quite distinct, it didn't look expensive. The jacket was navy blue. His shirt probably used to be white but was yellowed, most likely from age. The pants were either navy blue as well or possibly black. His tie was also a dark color. His shoes were leather loafers of some sort, and they too had seen better days. As far as his clothes were concerned, his entire look was rumpled, as if he had travelled a great distance. His hair was long, at least to his shoulders, and dark….he currently had it pulled back at the nape of his neck. He had a dark mustache, the ends of which nearly grazed his chin. His skin, though somewhat swarthy, still managed to hold a sallow pallor. His eyes, the most frightening aspect of his entire appearance were a shining bright green, hawkishly intelligent.

Alecta merely stared at the man for a moment; they were _**old**_ adversaries.

"Ce doriti? Ce ai facut cu prietenul meu?"

"El este doar adormit greoi….pentru acum. Capentru ceea ce vreau….Bine, Am sa ma intore la tine pe ca. De acum, este destul ca să intelegeti că TE pot gasi oriunde şi oricând."

"Apoi Amnevoie pentru care trebuie sa-l inetelgi ca va voi duce in mormânt…din nou."

"Apoi vom vedea fiecare alte din nou in curând."

"Cu siguranta."

"Aştept cu nerăbadore să să vă mănâce cuvintele dumneavoastră."

"ŞI aştept cu nerăbdare să vă sufocare la moarte pe gol amenintari."

"Cum MI-a scapat. Ultimele câteva sute de ani au fost ... lipsit. Bine, până când ne întâlnim din nou. ASTEPT de la tine sa fie in forma de lupta data viitoare AM să te vadă."

With that last word the strange 'diplomat' vanished leaving a worried and shaking Alecta in his wake.

**Post AN: Serry, I figured that would be a pretty cool place to end it this time. Another chapter is coming down the pipeline though. Who was the mystery diplomat? Stay tuned….**

**Now, the different language that you see is Romanian, I've done my best to translate it from English into Romanian…If anybody out there that does read my stories knows the language better than I do, let me know how I did. Meanwhile, provide the English version here, so you can keep track of what they were saying…..**

"_**What do you want? What have you done to my friend?"**_

"_**He is merely sleeping heavily…for now. As for what I want…Well, I'll get back to you on that. For now, it is enough that you understand that I can find you anywhere, anytime."**_

"_**Then I need you to understand that I will put you in your grave….again."**_

"_**Then we will be seeing each other again soon."**_

"_**Certainly."**_

"_**I look forward to making you eat your words."**_

"_**And I look forward to you choking on your empty threats."**_

"_**How I've missed you. The last few hundred years have been….lacking. Well, until we meet again. I expect you to be in fighting form the next time I see you."**_

**So there's the translation….hopefully that will help. I just figured it would be a little more mysterious to use the Romanian, and if you think about the use of Romanian, it should give you a clue as to who she was talking to. If not, all will be revealed. Eventually.**


	24. Chapter 24

**Chpt. 24**

"**Do not anticipate trouble, or worry about what may never happen.  
Keep in the sunlight." ( Benjamin Franklin)**

"**Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life, and when it comes, hold your head high, look it squarely in the eye and say, 'I will be bigger than you. You cannot defeat me." ( Ann Landers)**

"**Trouble is a sieve through which we sift our acquaintances. Those too big to pass through are our friends." ( Arlene Francis)**

Alecta had been kept overnight again. The doctor said that even though she seemed to have recovered nicely, albeit with her voice strained from the injury to her larynx, he still wanted to keep her under observation because of the stress to her pregnancy. Although Alecta hated the idea, she conceded, considering she was totally against bed rest for the remainder of her term as a time-share. When the doctor had brought up the idea of bed rest or restricting her to 'house arrest' as she termed it, she wanted nothing more than to throttle the man; it was only by Hotch getting the man quickly and safely out of harm's way that the poor doctor survived her wrath.

Rossi had made the call to Rachel, Alecta's daughter, to let her know what had gone down and that her mother was in the hospital and was recovering…he let her know that she could bring the kids, but to keep the stress levels low. Rachel was angry and ready to shred somebody for not letting her know for so long, but after she realized how fast things happened and that they had gotten her mother back in one piece, she let the anger go. It was what had to be done, she couldn't bring more stress around her mother, not in her very pregnant condition.

During the afternoon, Rachel managed to bring the kids out to see their mother. Sofie and Emma, as always, were popping off questions rapid fire about everything that had happened. Sasha, Eva, and Oleg would quietly question her about things that had them worried. Rachel watched her mother for any hint that something might be wrong in her demeanor that the others couldn't see; she thought she could sense some underlying worry…Alecta's eyes seemed to be a bit feral, but Rachel thought she could let it go until Alecta had been sent home and could relax…then she would ask her mother what was wrong.

Hotch, too, had noticed that something was off with Alecta. He couldn't quite put his finger on what it was. He only knew that before they had taken that one nap, she seemed fine, actually quite spunky under the circumstances. And then when they woke up she was withdrawn considerably, maybe even a bit pensive; when he woke up he saw her laying in the bed, turned away from him, fully awake, but on her own planet. Hotch knew something was off with her but he had yet to get her to talk to him about it. All he could do was keep his eye on her and hope for the best.

On the car ride home, Alecta was quiet. Sometimes when Hotch would look over at her he would catch her staring at him, as if she was trying to burn everything about him into her brain….his looks, what colors he was wearing, his mannerisms, everything. She wasn't shy about it; she never bothered to look away. He could see a deep sadness in her eyes; it seemed as though there were tears just behind them that hadn't managed to fall. She seemed to shake, sometimes almost to the point of vibrating. Something had her scared and she wouldn't or couldn't say what it was. He wanted to know so bad it was killing him, but he had to be patient; pushing her might make things worse…besides, her voice would come and go because of the damage to her larynx, he didn't want to make matters worse.

Arriving back at his apartment, Hotch hopped out of the car and went to her side, opening her door for her and helping her out. She followed him into the apartment, looking around….she felt like it had been ages since she'd seen this place. Somehow, seeing his apartment again made her even sadder than she had been before. Normally, she loved the fact that his apartment was so orderly and well appointed; but for some strange reason today, it seemed to upset her.

"If you want, you can go get a shower and get a little more relaxed. It might make you feel better."

Alecta only nodded and mumbled a teary 'Thank you' before walking quietly down the hall to Hotch's room. Her shower lasted about 15 minutes as she washed her hair and her body carefully; she had to get the hospital crud off, as well as whatever funk was left behind from the slime ball that had taken her in the first place. She dried off, applied some lotion, combed through her hair, got some pajamas on….she felt almost human now….that thought caused her to chuckle somewhat bitterly. If only people knew what she really was.

By the time Alecta came back down the hall from her time in the shower, Jack had been dropped off by his Aunt Jessica; Jessica was still there talking to Hotch, asking how Alecta was feeling. Jack turned and saw Alecta coming down the hall and took off at a sprint towards her. Alecta knelt down to his level and caught the boy in a hug.

"Where'd ya go? I missed you."

Alecta wasn't sure how to answer that without totally screwing the kid up, 'A bad guy came after a friend of mine. I had to make him stop. Your daddy helped me stop him."

"Really?"

"Yes, Sir Jack, really."

After Jessica had talked to Hotch for a few minutes and found out that Alecta would be ok, she took her leave. Hotch grabbed his phone and was going to order some delivery, 'What are you in the mood for tonight?"

"Something Middle Eastern, go light on the spicy."

Hotch didn't mind so much, it seemed like Middle Eastern food, be it Arabic or Hindu in origin, seemed to calm her nerves a bit….and right now, her nerves were teetering on the razors edge it seemed. She probably wished that Kong or Lakshmi was around to cook it for her, to give her an authentic dish, but the local Indian place would have to do.

After dinner the three of them watched a bit of TV before Jacks bedtime. Hotch had been sitting on one end of the couch, Alecta was curled up against his side, her head resting on his chest with one of his arms around her…Jack was leaning against Alecta in much the same way, one of his little arms draped around her waist. By 9pm Jack was sleeping away, leaning against Alecta; Hotch helped her sit up so he could move around and pick up his son and take him to bed. After he tucked Jack in, Hotch came back and saw her still sitting on the couch.

"You ready for bed, after the kind of day you've had, you're probably tired."

"I am really tired, you're right about that. But I don't think I could sleep just now. If you want, you can go to bed, I'm going into my room to….read….for a bit. I'll come to bed once I've wound down a little more."

"Ok, whatever you like, just don't over-do it please."

"Thanks."

Hotch went on back into his room and got ready for bed. As soon as his bedroom door was shut, Alecta grabbed her own cell phone and fired off a quick text to Immogene. She told her to come to Hotch's place and bring the girls, and to text her when they were outside the door, so they wouldn't have to ring the bell, since everyone was in bed.

Twenty minutes later, Immogene and the girls arrived, as planned sending a text to Alecta. Alecta opened the door to see them standing there with their bags in hand as well as some snacks. A text at 10pm meant there was work to be done, and snacks would be needed to make things go ever so much easier.

Alecta and the other six women went straight on back down the hall to Alecta's little cave. There was a day bed on one side of the room, almost directly opposite of the large cabinet that everyone seemed to love; two of the girls plopped down on that amongst some of the decorative pillows that represented half of the countries on the globe. Four of the others were sprawled around the room in various little chairs that dotted the room.

Alecta sat behind the desk in her chair…Margaret Tudor's chair….

"Ma'ma, what are we here for?" Lakshmi cut straight to the chase as always.

"First order of business….This man,' she handed a stack of papers that turned out to be sketches of the unknown man that she had been seeing the past couple of weeks…the one that she had seen that night as she went into the restaurant with Hotch and the team…'Pass those around, study them. Study these as well. This is the make and model of his car….I took the liberty of having these printed from the internet…I'm no good at sketching these sort of things. This is all I know about the license plate."

"How did we get this assignment?" Immogene was studying the sketch of the man's face carefully; getting up she walked over to a small bin on the desk top and picked up a manila folder, some paper clips, and a few sheets of printer paper. The others followed suit. They would begin making notes on how many people in the city of Quantico had this make and model of car, then narrow it down by the few digits of the license plate that were provided…it was only a partial. At least one of the girls would check the names of the car owners to DMV photos to see if they could get a match. Once a match was found they would need to know about financials, mainly to see what kind of activity the guy had been getting into over the past few days or weeks.

"This one fell right into my lap."

"Please explain,' Isis was so level headed, at least for the moment.

"Some time ago I noticed this car seemed to be following us around; by us I mean Hotch, Jack, and myself. Jack mentioned in passing the other day that he saw a guy in a car much like this one near JJ's house. He was telling his dad that he thought maybe the guy was lost and needed help, but that he was playing football with Henry and didn't pay too much attention beyond that. I heard him describing the car that first time. And then I say the car that night outside of the restaurant with the man inside of it; he was trying to act nonchalant, but I saw the way he glared at me when I put my arm around Jack. When I first noticed the man sitting there in the car, what Jack had told his dad came back to me, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I put my arm around Jack as anyone would to usher a kid along….the man glared at me like wanted me dead."

"Are you sure you were reading it right?"

"Cossette, each of us have seen our fair share of pedophiles; we know how they act when they are hunting. I know for a fact he is hunting Jack and I have to assume that he's got Henry in his sights as well."

"What do you want us to do?" Lakshmi asked as she flipped through some of the papers.

"For now, just figure out who…" There was a small knock on the door.

Oona got up and answered the door, "Hello young Jack."

"Jack, what are you doing out of bed?"

"I heard talking; I came to see what was going on." He trudged into the roomful of women with his little bear under his arm. "What's going on Lex?"

"Jack, I have a question for you?"

"Ok, whatcha need?"

"Come. Sit." Alecta sat behind her desk, Jack hopped up on her lap. Holding up a copy of the sketch of the man, "Do you recognize this man or the car in this picture?"

Jack looked at the pictures carefully, thinking really hard. "Lexa, I remember seeing the car on the street near Aunt JJ's house. Don't know if this man in the picture was in it, but the car was there. But I do know that the man is a teacher at our school. His name is Mr. Dunbar. I don't like him very much. I can't really say why, but he's weird."

"Can you tell me anything about him at all?"

"Well, he is a good teacher, I think; he knows what he's talking about most the time. But…."

"What is it Jack? Tell us only what you know to be true."

"There were two kids, maybe three, from my class…they were good kids. But Mr. Dunbar would start asking one of them to stay after school for detention. I didn't understand why. But they did it so they wouldn't get in trouble. They'd be made to stay maybe once a week or something. Then, after some time, their mommy and daddy would make them go to a different school…."

"Is there anything else Jack, anything else that you can possibly think of?" Lakshmi's nearly black, almond shaped eyes studied him closely.

"No ma'am. I don't know anything else for sure."

"Alright Jack, before you have to go back to bed….I need you to do your best to look out for your cousin Henry while you're at school. Can you do that for me?"

"Yes ma'am, of course."

"Good. And, if Mr. Dunbar tries to make you or Henry stay for detention after school, you tell him _NO_, and come on home or to your Aunt Jessica's. If he has a problem with the fact that you won't be staying for detention, you give him this number. It will connect him to me. I will get you out of trouble with him.' Alecta handed him a card with a cell phone number for her on it. "Tell him I am your nanny and that your father is out of town on business and I am under strict orders for your care; when and if he calls me, I will back you up and clear up this _misunderstanding_."

Walking over to the cabinet of wonders, Alecta pulled out an old and beautiful alabaster box; the girls had seen it on numerous occasions, but still knew little about it. It was a gift to Alecta from a dear friend, in the 12th century. The carving on the lid depicted St. George slaying a fearsome dragon; it had an Eastern European sort of design. Opening the lid you could see a vibrantly purple colored lining; it was really a stunning shade of purple. Reaching into the box, Alecta grabbed a pendant on a black leather cord.

Stooping down in front of Jack, to be nearly eye level with him, Alecta placed the pendant around his neck, 'Since I ask so much of you Sir Jack, the least I can do is offer you this."

Once the clasp had been fastened, Jack turned the pendant over in his hand to look at it; upon seeing the back he repeated the words 'Brotherhood of St. George'.

Seeing Jack's curios expression, 'Yes Jack, the brotherhood of St. George. If at any time you are on some adventure, such as the one we are about to go on, and you need the police to help you, show them this and give them that card that has Kong and Mac's numbers on it, tell them to call those numbers. Help will be there in a matter of minutes. And, depending on the adventure, the pendant is made of pure silver, so it's good luck…."

"Like a rabbit's foot?" Jack beamed at Alecta.

"Exactly like that sweetheart. This makes you an honorary member of the brotherhood, because you promised to do the best you can to look out for yourself and Henry when I or your father can't be there. Now, off to bed with you then."

She walked with him down the hall and got him all tucked back into his bed. Before she left his room, she gave him an emergency burn phone to go along with the two business cards she had told him to keep.

"Keep this phone in your pocket, not just in your school bag….if you get separated from that bag, you need to have a way to get help. It has my number, daddy's number, Auntie Pen's Uncle Derek's, the whole team is programmed into this, even Kong and Mac….just in case you lose their numbers, you don't have to worry. I know this is a lot, but do you think you can do it?"

"Yeah. I used to help daddy look for the bad guys all the time. So….I get to help on this adventure?"

"You do. But be careful, if you find yourself in too much trouble call one of us, don't take any unnecessary risks. And, I know I shouldn't say this, but don't tell your daddy."

"Like a secret?"

"Yes, very much so. If he asks you about any of this, do not lie, I don't want you to lie to him. Lying is never a good thing, at least not when you're talking to your father. But, if he doesn't bring it up, don't offer any information. I have to look into some things, I have to…."

"Investigate?"

"I forget how bright you are don't I baby? Yes, I have to investigate. I don't want to worry your father if there is no reason to. Now, do you need a story tonight?"

"No. I think I will be alright. I think I can make up one tonight with my 'magination."

"Ok, to sleep with you then, or daddy really will have my as…butt in a sling."

Leaning over to click off his bedside lamp and place his bear back in his bed with him, Alecta kissed Jack on the forehead. As she made her way out of the room and closed the door behind her, she looked upward, 'My dearest Michael, guard this boy." With that she made her way back to her cave and the girls.

"Immogene…."

"I have already placed the call. There will be an incognito detail placed on the boys around the clock starting after breakfast tomorrow morning. There will be alternating shifts so nobody on either side of this gets suspicious."

"Very well."

"Next order of business?" Isis was tucking away her copy of the file on Mr. Dunbar.

"We have to head to Ballynure, Ireland. We have yet to bury Moira and Cinnamon. I have a priest that is on schedule to do the ceremony; it's just going to be a small one, at the burial site. I didn't think it would be a good idea to have a larger ceremony and announce our presence in town. Then I, at least, need to get into Romania. One of the grandmothers has died. She has already been buried, but I still need to pay my respects to her…."

"Lex, Romania? Are you sure? The last time you were there…"

"Yes, I know. But, I have no other choice. That woman saved my life, she fed me and gave me a place to stay….she crossed _HIM_ by hiding me, and she did it successfully for three days. She deserves to have me come and pay my respects; it's all I can give her now."

"Did you not hear how she died?"

"I heard! If I can't risk it for her then, who am I going to risk it for? I'd do it for anyone of you, so why should I not do it for her? Now, that is it, Oona, I won't speak on this further."

"Fine."

"You do know we are coming with you." Lakshmi looked at Alecta challengingly.

"I didn't figure you'd miss the opportunity to stare down an arch Nemesis of the Crescent Guard. I had rather counted on the fact that you were all going. And after Romania, I will want to spend some time in Istanbul of course. I haven't been there in a few years. I need to check on our interests in the area, and do some shopping."

"Question."

"Yes, Cossette?"

"You do remember the part where you are pregnant and due in a matter of weeks right? Will all this travel not be difficult in your state of…."

"I have to do these things. I don't want to bury my friends, but they are dead, and they deserve to be buried according to their wishes. And I really don't want to invite danger, but I am going to Romania, feud be damned. If I can survive Romania, I will make it to Istanbul; I will receive lodging and protection there. Let _HIM_ come for me there if he dares."

"Very well then. Is there anything else that we need to discuss tonight ma?"

"No Immogene, there isn't. We will need to be in touch over the next few days to see where our investigation leads us, but other than that we should be alright. School will have just started within the next week or so, I think that's what I overheard Jessica and Aaron saying earlier; we will need something to be in place by then."

Soon after that the group broke up; Alecta's six friends left and made their way back to their own homes. Alecta went back to her desk, putting away the file on Mr. Dunbar; she got back up and walked over to her cabinet again, this time she pulled out a larger box….it wasn't as deep as the last one, but it was longer and wider. This box was made out of wood; it had Arabic lettering on the lid of it, some of them worn from centuries of life. The words were a kind of prayer against evil.

She opened the box, taking out scrolls of paper, some were written in Cyrillic and some were in Arabic, most were over 500 years old. There were some pamphlets….odds and ends of scraps of papers about the movements of her old enemy. Among the papers were a few things that were in her own handwriting…she had written some in Latin, Cyrillic, Arabic….there were even a few pages there in an old Greek dialect that was fashionable for a couple hundred years in the east. There were sketches of tombs and churches that had been possible hiding places for _HIM_ and some that she had used. Most were no longer in existence; so many of these places had been destroyed during wars or torn down by man to make way for something new. It was the story of her existence….live long enough to watch empires crumble; watch fact become history, history become legend, legend become myth…Myth becomes forgotten and covered by sand and dirt and time….

Hotch woke with a start; he sat up and looked at the clock, 9:30 am? The bed beside him was empty. Alecta never came to bed. Thinking of recent events Hotch hopped out of bed immediately, nearly running down the hall.

Opening the door to her cave, Hotch saw Alecta curled up on the day bed, papers scattered all around her, a wooden box on the floor. He walked over to begin collecting the papers and putting them away; they looked old and important and he was sure that Alecta wouldn't want them damaged. As he got closer to the bed, he reached for the first stack of papers, but before he could get a grip on them, Alecta sat up, pulling a blade on him. He backed up immediately, seeing how the tip of the blade had come within millimeters of his throat. Alecta put her hand to her head, sweeping some of her hair out of her face…

"Oh, it's just you. Sorry, force of habit. Let me put these things away."

Hotch saw her hands shake as she began piling the papers together to put them back into the box.

Placing his hand on top of hers, 'What's wrong?"

"There's nothing wrong, nothing at all." Hotch knew better than to believe her, she wouldn't look at him and he could hear her draw in a shaky breath.

Alecta couldn't tell him that this 'stranger' would come after him and Jack or some of the others before he came to try to finish her off. Yes, she was going to Romania to pay respects to the old gypsy woman. But she was also going to draw the attention of the 'stranger' off of Hotch and Jack. If they aren't in his crosshairs, perhaps they would make it out of this in on piece. She knew she should have killed this person ages ago. She let her sentimental feelings get in the way at that time. She had watched him grow up in the shadow of the wars with the Turks. She had watched him become a young man that tried to empower his people. But she had also watched him rapidly turn into one of the most evil beings that she ever met.

"There is something wrong. What are you not telling me?"

"Trust me; you are so much safer not knowing. This is something that I should have taken care of a long time ago."

Alecta put the papers in the box, closed the lid, locking it. She walked over to the cabinet and slid the box back into its spot.

"Alecta…"

"Aaron, don't. Leave it be for now. Such matters don't deserve to hear or see the light of day. Please."

She walked out into the great room, seeing Jack wide awake watching some kids show on TV. She walked into the kitchen and began making some breakfast; no eggs.

During breakfast, JJ had called and asked if it would be ok to take Jack swimming with them for a little while. Of course Hotch said it was just fine, the little boy loved few things more than swimming. After finishing his breakfast, Jack ran and got himself dressed and ready to wait for Aunt JJ to come and get him.

Once he was gone, Hotch tried again to get Alecta to talk to him for whatever reason, 'If you want to go shopping for some of the maternity stuff that you wanted we can go today."

Alecta knew that he wouldn't give up trying to get the truth out of her; he must have been a damned good prosecutor. Alecta didn't want to tell him '_no_', but she wasn't sure she wanted him going with her. He was trying so hard to show her that he meant what he said when he told her he loved her. But with so much going on lately, the death of her friends, and with the added pressure of….she needed time away from Hotch to think. But at the same time she needed to keep him close, to protect him. But, by being close to her it put him in danger as well. She didn't know what to do.

"Well….ok. I could probably stand to go out and get some fresh air anyway. It'll only take me like 10 minutes to change and brush out my mop and be ready. Last one ready buys lunch." She said as she held an arm out to keep him from beating her down the hall. They raced down the hall, getting to the bedroom door at the same time, shoving at each other a bit out of the way, trying to squeeze through the frame at the same time.

Alecta beat him by a hair, she bounced into the room laughing, diving onto the bed and rolling over so she could hop up where the closet was, not giving up the game.

"Hmmmm…."

"Trying to decide what to wear?"

"No, trying to decide where you're going to be taking me for lunch."

Since she had her back to Hotch she didn't see him rush up and grab her by the sides tickling the shit out of her. She let out a sharp squeal as she doubled over laughing, her feet coming up off of the floor as his grip tightened on her waist. He swung her around and she landed on the bed, bouncing slightly before landing in the middle.

"You cheated."

"It's not very gentlemanly to call a woman out on her short comings. Face it, you lost. You're a physically fit man, shoulda been able to keep up." She shrugged as she tried to get up, stopping when he started tickling her again. She twisted around laughing hard, 'Uncle! Please, Uncle. Lemme up."

Hotch stepped back and she darted off the bed, 'Damn, gotta go." She made fast tracks to the bathroom before she literally peed on everything in sight.

After coming back from the bathroom, having brushed her teeth and hair while she was in there, she couldn't help but notice that Hotch had quickly dressed himself in her absence. He was in a pair of jeans with one of the baseball style ¾ sleeve t-shirts, it was a smoky shade of blue and white; the ends of the sleeves resting about the middle of his forearms….guys like Hotch were the reason they invented these shirts, that was one conclusion that she came to rather quickly.

"I see, Agent Hotchner, you have beaten me at my own game. I see you the tickle fight, and raise you a very _hard_ issue…for you…for the rest of the day."

She had suddenly decided what she was going to wear. She pulled the rosy pink drape necked top that he had nearly fallen over in the store and a pair of 'ass' jeans. These would help her make sure he was tripping over his own feet most of the day. They hugged her ass like a second skin, and were flared below the knee in a boot-cut style. She slipped on a pair of thong sandals that had a wide silver strap that went across the top of her feet, they were some of her favorites…her SKETCHER'S flip flops…and they were quite comfortable.

"Since I am apparently buying today after all, I hope you're in the mood for Greek."

Alecta reached out and grabbed him by the front of his shirt and pulled him out of the bedroom; quickly enough he began walking quickly to keep up with her.

**Post AN: I'm going to let that be the end of Chpt 24. It seemed like a decent stopping point. Next chapter perhaps what happens while they are out shopping….will the 'stranger' make an appearance? Eh, we'll see. **


	25. Chapter 25

**Chpt 25**

"**There are darknesses in life and there are lights, and you are one of the lights, the light of all lights." (Bram Stoker, Dracula)**

"**I am all in a sea of wonders. I doubt; I fear; I think strange things, which I dare not confess to my own soul. God keep me, if only for the sake of those dear to me!" (Bram Stoker, Dracula)**

"**And yet, unless my senses deceive me, the old centuries had, and have, powers of their own which mere 'modernity' cannot kill." (Bram Stoker, Dracula)**

Aaron and Alecta hit a couple of maternity boutiques that happened to be in the city. Alecta picked up a few tunics that peaked her interest; there was one, eggplant in color, that had sweeping long sleeves….and it had gathers under the bust, and would drape over any baby belly that she did wind up with….the draping effect was actually quite attractive on her. There was a white one that had some almost crocheted design around the V-neck and some on the sleeves, the sleeves were fitted, but the body of the tunic was very loose fitting. There was a coppery colored Greco/Roman styled tunic with the flowing sleeves that had a drawstring under the bust that you could tie up to give it a more form fitting appearance, but like the others, from the bust down it flowed freely. Alecta had decided against buying any pants at this point since she wasn't sure just how large she would get….she only knew that she had two months left, approximately, on her pregnancy…if her belly was going to get very big at all, it had a lot of time to make up for.

Before they went to lunch they stopped by a baby store and Hotch bought her a ton of stuff; clothes, toys…..if she even hinted that something had caught her eye, he put it in the basket. Hotch wanted her to know that he didn't care if these weren't his biological children, he was going to take care of them like they were…and her….and that too much was never enough.

After dropping the bags that they had already acquired into the back of Hotch's SUV they walked on to the Greek restaurant that Alecta had decided on. She ordered the Veggie platter, no fries, no Greek salad, but with extra falafel and dolmathakia, and an extra bit of spanakopita and extra hummus and tzatziki . Hotch had the beef souvlaki and used some of her extra sauce to go with it.

They chatted as they ate, deciding where to go next. It had been such a sunny day, with only a slight breeze in the air to keep it comfortable, that they had opted to sit outside at one of the bistro tables and enjoy the day.

Suddenly, Alecta looked around, there was crackle in the air, like static…it made all the hair on the back of her neck and her arms stand up. She looked around scanning for any signs of trouble, and at the same time tried to act normal; she didn't need to alert Hotch and have him freaking out. Upon doing her initial sweep of the immediate area, she saw nothing. But just before she returned to her meal and conversation, her eyes fell on him, that strange, foreign 'diplomat'. He should have been easily seen from outer space. Among all the people that were dressed in shorts, T-shirts, and flip-flops, this man was still wearing that same rumpled dark suit he'd had on when he came to her hospital room.

Where he was sitting was maybe seven tables away from them and on the side of the dining space closest to the building; Alecta had gravitated towards a table that was nearer the street, it was just a strange feeling she had had all day. From the angle that the 'diplomat' sat in, Alecta could tell he was looking at the paper, but he was not reading it; after having watched him for several long moments, Alecta realized he hadn't turned a single page. She wanted to look away, she really did, Alecta wanted to focus on Hotch and whatever he was saying about Jack and soccer….or was it Jack's school that he was talking about? But she couldn't look away. Her attention was stuck on the thoughts about '_how is he able to move about in daylight?_' Of course she knew better than anyone alive that _HE_ didn't always follow the legends people spread about him…but the idea that he could travel about by day and not only at night….this really and truly terrified her. All the centuries before, you could at least rely on daylight to give you some protection, but apparently now, that was a distant dream.

As she sat there staring, becoming more worried by the second, the 'diplomat' turned down a corner of the paper he was reading and looked up at Alecta and winked.

Food half-finished and all, Alecta threw down a wad of cash for a tip and grabbed Hotch by the arm, dragging him out of his seat and up the sidewalk in the direction of their car.

"What the hell…?!"

"I'm sorry, I just….some stomach upset…..I want to go back to the apartment. _Please_?"

Hotch wanted to be angry about having to give up such a beautiful day and the good food but he could see her worry. Her eyes couldn't seem to focus and kept darting everywhere. Her body shook. Her skin had gone deathly pale. She looked sick, he couldn't argue that, so he agreed. As they kept walking, he noticed she kept looking back as if expecting to see someone following them.

Alecta held tightly to Hotch's hand as they walked briskly towards the SUV. She couldn't help but to keep looking back and checking to see if they were being followed. At one time, before they had gotten far, Alecta had turned around and looked back there. The 'diplomat' was standing to the right of his former table gathering his unread newspaper under his arm and walking out to the sidewalk. He looked in their direction, removed his hat and bowed slightly to Alecta as if bidding her good day, and winked. Alecta quickly turned back around facing forward, walking with Hotch, squeezing her eyes shut for just a moment, trying to rid herself of the image of the diplomat.

Once they were back in the SUV, Alecta began to buckle her safety belt and stared straight ahead, shutting her eyes again, trying to take a deep breath. Hotch buckled his seat belt and started the vehicle and turned onto the street in the direction of his apartment.

Things were going fine the closer they got heading back to Hotch's apartment. That is until there was a bit of grid lock on the bridge.

"There shouldn't be this much traffic. It's the last week of summer vacations for most schools in the area, and most of the families with kids are on the last bit of their beach trips…." Hotch began to wonder out loud.

Alecta had tuned him out. She was looking out of the passenger window right next to her. Hotch's SUV was in the middle lane of three lanes going in the same direction. Alecta was looking past the car next to them towards the outside shoulder of the bridge. There standing just beyond the hood of the car, she could see her strange diplomat. Now he was wearing a different suit. The jacket to this one was a dark green; it appeared sort of velvety in the daylight. The pants were a dark brown. He was wearing another dingy shirt with it. There was a dark colored top hat of sorts atop his head that looked as though it matched his trousers. Hotch and Alecta were at least three miles from the restaurant they had been eating at. The stranger was looking back at Alecta, a smile on his face as he tipped his hat to her slightly and bowed again.

Alecta grabbed Hotch's free hand again, still looking at the stranger as he turned to walk away again. '_Why is he doing this to me again?'_ Alecta wondered to herself….

So she thought. "Who's doing what to you?"

"What?"

"You asked, 'Why is he doing this to me again?' Who is HE and what is HE doing?"

She snatched her hand away, 'It's noth…"

"Your hand was cold and clammy. You've been distracted since we were at lunch. You've been jumpy since that day at the hospital. What's going on? And don't try to tell me it's nothing."

"You don't want to know. Please, drop it."

Alecta curled her legs up in the seat, pulling her knees to her chest, wrapping her arms around them. Hotch decided to drop it, for now. He would try to ask her more later when she was calmer…if she was calmer.

She was quiet the rest of the way back to the apartment, resting her head against the headrest of her seat. Hotch could tell she was thinking waay to hard about God only knows whatever it was.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Once back at the apartment, Alecta ran to take a shower and wash away the film of ick that seemed to have attached itself to her after her sightings of her strange diplomat. She couldn't scrub hard enough. The whole time she was in the shower, her mind kept running over the last time she saw him. She had thought so hard about it that she started having flashbacks to that day in 1476. She had saved the life of the Sultan, his Gloriousness Mehmed II in June of 1462, if only just. She hadn't been able to save all of his men, but the Sultan lived to fight another day. And Alecta was one of the ones responsible for Dracula's assassination. She had tracked him for days, studying his movements. And, when the time was right to strike, she sent word.

Remembering all the times that their paths had crossed before and since, Alecta scrubbed even harder. At one point she managed to break the skin. Seeing this, she stopped her shower and toweled off. Instead of her usual pajamas she put on one of Hotch's dress shirts and buttoned it up, leaving the top two buttons undone. She towel dried her hair and combed through it and left it to dry naturally.

As she made her way down the hall to see what Hotch was up to, she saw him lying on the couch, his back resting against one of the arms of the sofa, watching some movie on TV. She walked over and lay down on top of him, and he wrapped his arms around her, noticing that she was shaking. He could tell she was trying to stop shaking and failing miserably at it. She rested her head on his chest and wrapped her arms around his torso just as he had wrapped his arms around her.

She could tell he wanted to ask her to talk to him again, 'There's a lot that I haven't told you about myself yet; mostly because it's safer that you don't know most of it, and then also because…you wouldn't believe half of it anyway. I just save myself the trouble of being committed again."

Hotch tightened his hold on Alecta considerably causing her to wince a bit.

"I'm sorry. I just don't like the idea of you being afraid to tell me something."

"I know, but this time….There's too much at stake, or I would tell you." _Not bloody likely._ Alecta thought quietly to herself.

They laid there together on the sofa for about another hour before Hotch decided he needed to run to the grocery store and stop to pick up a pizza on his way home.

Alecta played it cool, watching from the sofa as he left, telling him to be careful. Once he had shut the door, she ran over and watched out of the window to see when his car had driven out of sight. As soon as she was sure he was gone, she jumped on her cell phone.

"Dr. Spencer Reid."

"Reid, how quickly can you get to Hotch's?"

"I can be there in about 10 minutes. Is there something wrong? Are you in trouble?"

"You have no idea…."

"What?"

"Nothing. Just get here as quick as you can, I need you here ASAP. If there is time I can try to explain later." With that she hung up and made a second call to Mac, telling him to get to Hotch's apartment and to bring Kong.

Reid showed up first, Alecta let him in, and then began to pace even more than she had before Hotch left. Next, Mac came in bringing the human mountain that was Kong with him.

"What's wrong Poppet?"

Alecta took off down the hall, heading for her office, coming back with three spray bottles of holy water and three rags; she handed one each to the men.

"First, Reid, memorize the layout of the furniture over here. Second, I need the three of you to go around and spray down and spread around this holy water on the exits and the window sills. Thirdly, I need Mac and Kong to move the furniture and this rug. Shit, I'll be right back."

She ran back towards her office one more time, returning this time with a silver box and a few bulbs of garlic. Quickly she made her way over to the kitchen and rummaged through Hotch's drawers until she found a meat tenderizing mallet and a hand chopper. She took a couple of the bulbs of garlic and whacked the crap out of them with the mallet and placed them in the chopper; setting the chopper to pulse, she had turned the garlic into a bit of a paste with the aid of a couple drops of olive oil. Next, she used a table spoon to place dollops of the garlic paste into small dishes, three of them.

"When you're done with that, smear a little of this across the threshold of the exits, perhaps along window sills…."

Reid noticed when Alecta opened the silver box that it contained large sticks of chalk. Alecta grabbed one or two of them and began going around the apartment, taking pictures off the walls….not all of them, she alternated them. When she took a picture down, she would draw a cross, eye of Horus, or some other religious symbol on the wall where the picture had been, then hang the picture back in its place. There were crosses, eyes of Horus, Ankhs of Isis, and Crescents (representing his gloriousness Sultan Mehmed II) ….stars of David, even words to Quran prayers were scribbled on the wall.

"Rug is rolled up, mum' Kong announced.

Alecta turned around and grabbed a fresh stick of chalk and sat in the middle of the floor beginning to draw out a cross on the floor, going over the outlines of it time and again to make it more defined. Inside the cross she began to make little characters that Reid recognized as Western Aramaic, if just barely.

She was writing and drawing furiously, sweeping her hair back from where it had fallen over her left shoulder and began draping the floor.

"Where did you learn Western Aramaic?"

Without even looking up, "Who do you think invented it?"

She kept drawing, adding a few more good luck symbols around the outer edges of the cross.

"Invented….what are you talking about? And what is this all for?"

"Just….' Closing her eyes and trying to reign in her attitude, 'Trust me, please. That's all I ask. Mac, ya'll can start putting the furniture back anytime now. Reid, make sure it all goes where it should. I don't want Hotch knowing about this….at least not yet."

After she finished drawing on the living room floor, Mac and Kong moved the furniture back into place. Next, for good measure, Alecta had them move Hotch's and Jack's beds so she could do some rudimentary crosses and symbols under them. Altogether the entirety of the preparations took about an hour.

"We've only got about 10 or 15 minutes before Aaron comes back, are ya'll finished?'

"Yes love, all done."

Alecta thanked both Mac and Kong, hugging them tightly.

"Now Poppet, suppose you tell us what this is all about?"

Alecta paced some more, heaving a huge sigh, 'You remember my troubles in Romania?"

"Yes,' both Mac and Kong answered.

"Well, he's here; in Quantico."

"Should the team know about this?" Reid questioned aloud.

"NO! I mean, I don't think they can help me this time."

"I'm sure that whateve…."

"Dear sweet, scientific Reid. No, don't drag them into my mess. This problem can't be solved with science and careful deduction. Derek's ability to destroy a door, JJ's aim, none of it will mean anything."

"But…"

"No, Spencer. Not this time. None of you can help me.' Alecta turned to look out of the window. 'I wish there was a way, but you'll only get killed if you try."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Do you know how to kill a man that is nearly 600 years old?"

"Wait. Romainia? Who are you talking about?"

"Seriously? Dracula, who do you think?"

"He died in 1476."

"Yeah, I know. I was the one that assassinated him. I got to watch a soldier from the Crescent Guard sever his head. They buried the body in a separate place from the head. They feared him so, dead or alive. And now, he's here in Quantico."

"Why?"

"Did you space out around the part where I assassinated him? He wants revenge."

"But wait. You're only 40."

"EH! Try again."

"How old are you?"

"Well you're partially right. This…..body…I'm trapped in is only about 40. But, the being inside of it…..i'm thousands of years old."

"What? How?"

"It's a bit hard to explain. The best way to sum it up in a nice neat little package…..When Jesus was born, I wrapped him in his first little blanket and handed him to his mother. My eyes were the first things he saw when he came into the world. When he was being crucified, I held his mother as she sobbed at his feet; my eyes were also the last things he saw as he took his last breath.

But I am even older than that. That was merely the main turning point in my existence at the time. Up to that point….

I was created, not born. I sat on the right side of the Almighty throne. Satan sat on the left. When Satan turned on us, I stood against him; I cornered him as the boss began to send him down into hell. Satan never forgave me for that. We had been inseparable friends for so long, and then I turned on him. But he brought war to our kind. I wouldn't stand for it.

But when I saw the boy that I had watched grow up….that I had risked everything to keep alive...up on that cross….'Sacrifice for the greater good' that's what the boss called it. I couldn't do it anymore. I stopped following orders. I became an avenger.

I had, for centuries, been begging to be given a mortal life. Then, I went off the rails. I hunted Pontius Pilate to France….well Gaul, as it was during Roman times. Most of what you will read says he committed suicide. I poisoned him. It was better than he deserved. But, I didn't want to leave a mess and be found out. Being what I was it was so much easier to let people believe he killed himself out of guilt. Technically, maybe they're right. He _did_ drink the wine that I gave him. The only thing that went wrong is that I put to high of a dose of the poison in his drink. I had planned for his death to be longer and more painful. I hung Judas from a tree, after I played with him for a while. He deserved no better. The boy trusted him, and he turned on him for some money! By the time I strung him up in that tree, he was begging for death.

I wanted to hunt down the priests that were responsible for ratting Jesus out. But even I knew better than to do harm to holy men. And to be quite honest, I was still quite….I got a certain buzz from taking out Pilate and Judas. Nothing tastes so good as dining on the fear of others…..I'd say ask those Roman soldiers I tortured to get the location of Pilate in the first place. But, well….they were left speechless."

"And after all this, you were still a high ranking member of your kind?"

"Oh yes, darling. I am one of the best at what I do. Who was he going to get to replace me?"

"Is there anything else I need to know?"

"Not right now. There isn't time for further discussion as it is. Aaron will be back any minute. The only thing I have left to say right now is actually….Please, don't tell him. I wanted to leave that whole part of my life behind. I got the mortal life I had asked for. He wouldn't…..if he knew….he wouldn't want me anymore….and it's been ever so long since anyone cared for me at all. I might look like a 40 year old mortal woman. But I'm, whatever I am….this is the first time that I have had to go through all of these things the way normal humans go through them."

"He deserves to know what he's getting himself into."

"And do I not deserve to finally have something, anything? I spent thousands of years keeping mankind alive. I fought in battle after battle, watching your kind and mine dying by the thousands. I gave up my life, my power, all of it to have a mortal life like yours because I was tired of the bloodshed. I was tired of everything. You're right, he does deserve to know. I know you're right. But….Here he comes, act like we were reading. Come on."

She grabbed Reid's hand and dragged him to her office and tossed a book at him as she shoved him onto the daybed and sat down next to him, leaning her head on his shoulder.

Hotch came back into the apartment with three bags from the store in one hand, balancing the pizza as he unlocked the door.

"Alecta, are you home?"

"In my office,' he heard her reply.

He walked back to the office to see her curled up on the day bed, her head resting against Reid's shoulder her arm looped through his, as they were reading over some old dusty book….

"Whatcha reading?"

"It's one of the oldest existing versions of Beowulf. This particular volume was written in about….1045….it's done in the Old English of the day." She sounded so…chipper that Reid could almost forget their earlier conversation. Truth be told he hadn't memorized a thing on the page or any word they'd read thus far. He kept thinking over everything he had learned before Hotch came back. It was mind boggling to say the very least. He prided himself on being able to solve most of his issues with scientific facts. He didn't necessarily _not_ believe in religion; he knew that it was important to most people, in their day to day lives to have belief or faith in the fact that there was a better life than this one waiting for them when their number was up. He knew that it comforted people to believe that there was a natural order in the world and that there was some higher power that made all the tough decisions for them. But he didn't believe in Angels and demons and silly things such as that. There was good and evil and that was that. Or was it? Leaning on his shoulder was living proof that there was more to the story that he had always believed.

And he knew he was doing wrong if he kept this from Hotch. He knew his friend deserved to know the truth so he could make up his own mind about whether or not he wanted to be involved with someone like Alecta. But, then again, Reid knew very well the loneliness she spoke of, maybe not on the same level as she had known it, but he still understood. Outside of the team, there were very few people that ever troubled themselves over him. Perhaps he could hold off for a little while, at least until he had more facts in about what was going on.

Alecta had been chattering with Hotch about….Reid wasn't sure. He had been too lost in thought to even pay attention.

Reid and Alecta hopped off of the day bed and followed Hotch back into the living room; Hotch began opening the pizza as Alecta helped him put away the grocery items. Reid watched them. They seemed as though they were happy together. Alecta was starting to trust Hotch a little more every day. Hotch finally had somebody to love after the whole mess with Hayley and the break up with Beth.

"Well it's getting late enough that I need to be getting back to my place. There are a few things I want to look over; I will be giving a lecture at the university a couple weeks into the new semester, and I want to go over everything I have so far to make sure everything is in order."

"Well, before you go, I have something to give you. Come with me, please."

Reid followed her back to her office, where he saw her walk over to another mystery cabinet, unlock it, and take out a silver box; it was quite simple really, not a lot of decoration on it, as though it was meant to come across as non-descript.

"Come over to the desk Dr. Reid. I don't bite…..Well, there was that one time…..But that's really more the domain of my strange diplomat friend."

Reid walked over to the desk as she had asked. He watched her carefully open the lid; for all its simplicity, the box was certainly gleamingly bright, it had been well taken care of. Peeking inside once the lid was open Reid saw that the lining inside was brilliantly red….velvet…fire engine red velvet.

"What is this?"

"It's a vampire hunting kit. I picked it up during the 18th century in France; Paris actually. It was about two years prior to their Revolution. Bloody business that was; I went there to try to stop it. I didn't have enough back up, I failed. The only thing I did manage to achieve was to get the royal children out of harm's way. But I could not save their parents. Anyway, I was in a shop of sorts; it sold rare or hard to find books, curiosities. It was down near the Seine, near the older parts of the city, and was back then….I think the building dated to the 16th century. It's a pity that time has not been kind; they tore it down back in the the….' she seemed to be thinking, 'I think it was 1925. They put up a lovely Art Deco pile of bricks, that is still there. 'Tis a real shame though. You would have taken up residence at this curiosity shop."

"I don't need this. I don't believe in Vampires and things such as that."

"So, where does that leave me? I'm here, in front of you as plain as the nose on your face. Do you believe in me?"

"You have a point there."

"Yes, I do. Look, you don't have to believe in things like Vampires for them to be real. I'm not asking you to believe a word of anything that I have told you. But, please, humor me. I may not always be around and I need to know that I've done what I can to protect those that are close to me.

It has a dagger with a silver blade. I traded the old flint lock pistol that was in here for this little number.' She held up a small handgun, 'the Taurus PT709 Slim; generally there might be better guns out there, but it's small and fits nicely in this little box, and it'll keep you alive a little bit longer. I have three clips of silver ammo; that ammo costs a small fortune, I had all of my kits outfitted the same way. Be careful with the ammo. It's in short supply, but I have some on back order. There is a little flask of some holy water. The garlic is long gone, but you can manage to find some fresh if you need it."

"Is there anything else?"

"Yes. This." Alecta popped open a secret compartment and revealed a plain silver cross on a chain. "Wear this. Again, pleas just humor me."

"Alright, I'll try. Will the others be getting these kits?"

"I'm sure they will at some point. But for now, I am giving you yours since you have learned my little secret. Now, go. And Reid….."

"Yes?"

"Please be careful. I've seen what this….what he can do. Like I said, I won't always be around to look out for ya'll."

"What is that supposed to mean?"

"Nothing….nothing at all. Just, please….Just this once…."

Reid could tell she was getting highly agitated. She was pacing again. She was really nervous about things, she was shaking as she paced.

"Alright, I'll play this your way. But, you will eventually have to tell him."

"Yes, I know. I'm just trying to figure out how. There's so much to say….and thank you for agreeing to do this for me."

"We're friends, of course I will." Reid smiled gently to her and grabbed the box and took his leave. Alecta stayed in her office, looking out of the window, watching her strange diplomat in the street below as he looked up to the window, their eyes meeting. He looked slightly pissed; perhaps he could sense that she had done her best to fortify the Hotchner household. She knew the religious iconography would only hold him at bay for so long, maybe only a matter of days. But that would have to be enough. She had more fish to fry besides just him. There was a matter of a certain teacher….she would confront the man if he made any move towards Henry and Jack.

The religious drawings throughout the apartment would set her mind at ease enough that she could concentrate on naughty Mr. Dunbar. Meanwhile, some of her colleagues would be looking into stronger measures to help her protect the team.

Smiling down at her old enemy, she gave him a shit eating grin…and then in her most charming, lady-like way, gave him the finger just before he turned away….he was profusely mad as he left the street out front. She knew it was probably the worst idea in the long sad history of bad ideas to provoke him. But she also hoped that by doing so she would get him angry enough to make a mistake. If she could throw him off of his game even a little, perhaps she would stand half a chance this time of defeating him once and for all. It would be one hell of a fight. She knew that she would likely die this time; when she was granted this 'mortal' life, she was stripped of any real power she had before. Her one hope was that, if it came to that, that she would stay dead. She didn't want to wind up like him.

**"iieee" (Tori Amos)  
**

**With your E's  
And your ease  
And I do one more  
Need a lip gloss boost  
In your America  
Is it God's  
Is it yours  
Sweet saliva  
With your E's  
And your ease  
And I do one more  
I know we're dying  
And there's no sign of a parachute  
We scream in cathedrals  
Why can't it be beautiful  
Why does there  
Gotta be a sacrifice  
Just say yes  
You little arsonist  
You're so sure you can save  
Every hair on my chest  
Just say yes  
You little arsonist  
With your E's  
And your ease  
And I do one more  
Well I know we're dying**

**And there's no sign of a parachute  
In this Chapel  
Little chapel of love  
Can't we get a little grace  
And some elegance  
No we scream in cathedrals  
Why can't it be beautiful  
Why does there  
Gotta be a sacrifice **

***Post AN: So, there's chapter 25. Love it, hate it, ambivalent? Lemme know peeps. And when in doubt for a moody song to cover something, Tori Amos is your chick. **


	26. Chapter 26

**Chpt. 26-As always don't own a thing except a little debt and my OC. **

"**Never let the future disturb you. You will meet it, if you have to, with the same weapons of reason which today arm you against the present." (Marcus Aurelius, Meditations)**

"**I believe in everything until it's disproved. So I believe in fairies, the myths, dragons. It all exists, even if it's in your mind. Who's to say that dreams and nightmares aren't as real as the here and now?" (John Lennon)**

"**Even if she be not harmed, her heart may fail her in so much and so many horrors; and hereafter she may suffer-both in waking, from her nerves, and in sleep, from her dreams." (Bram Stoker, Dracula)**

"**My sleep wasn't peaceful, though. I have the sense of emerging from a world of dark, haunted places where I traveled alone." (Suzanne Collins, Mockingjay)**

"**Your nightmares follow you like a shadow, forever." (Aleksandar Hemon, The Lazarus Project)**

After seeing Reid out Hotch shut and locked the door and armed the alarm. He knew there was something going on between Reid and Alecta and he just wasn't sure what it was. Oh, he knew they weren't screwing around behind his back, they would never…..Yes, Alecta was the most gorgeous woman Hotch had ever met, and he was sure that most men in the free world would agree riotously so. Yes, she was gorgeous and deeply troubled; that combination had a tendency to bring out the hero complex in ever man in the room. And Reid….he was unbelievably intelligent, and socially awkward….but the ladies seemed to think that was too adorable, and he was actually a nice looking young man. Sometimes Hotch wondered if Reid didn't play the socially awkward card just to get the women. It would be a clever move since Reid wasn't built like Derek or Hotch himself nor had the athletic ability that either one of them did….he could play the socially awkward part and have some women eating out of his hand….

But neither Reid nor Alecta were like that. Neither was the type to fool around behind someone's back that way. Reid was too honest of a person, and Alecta….she knew first-hand what it was like to be used and lied to, she would never want to make someone else feel that way. She had a genuine love of the people she tended to care about, whoever they may be. It wasn't in her nature to go back on that; Hotch wasn't even sure she could go back on that. He knew she loved Reid to death, he was her history buddy. It was nothing to hear them discussing some arcane thing from 400years ago that nobody else knew or cared about. In return, Reid had grown close to Alecta….she was one of the few who's mind came anywhere close to keeping up with his. They were really a lot like brother and sister, or just very best of friends.

After arming the alarm, Hotch turned to make his way down the hall. He stopped at the door to Alecta's office to tell her that he was going to bed and he saw her looking at two paintings. They were rather large; they sat on the floor near one end of the day bed, but they were still large enough that the figures in them were eye level with Alecta. They had apparently been hidden behind some burlap wrappings.

One figure was one that Hotch had come to know since having met Alecta. It was St. George battling a dragon. There were differences in this image and the other ones he had seen of St. George though. The dragon in this work was larger and fiercer looking. And St. George, in the other images was usually on horse-back…in this one he was on foot, his horse having been killed in battle. Poor St. George looked as though he was in for the fight of his life with this God awful big dragon.

The second painting….there were two figures. The first was a man of some noble rank. Hotch couldn't place who he might be, but he could tell that the man was of some Middle-Eastern persuasion judging by the clothes he wore and the scimitar in his hand (not that the turban on his head didn't give it away). The woman in the picture looked almost exactly like Alecta; she had the same gleaming brown eyes, laden with mischief, and the same thick dark hair to her waist in large curls….the figure was even the same. The woman was actually wearing a feminine version of a suit of armor. She had a large sword in one hand, poised and ready to strike, and in the other hand she held a silver inlaid Roman Pugio dagger. _Thank you Reid for that particular history lesson._ Hotch thought back to a case where some idiot was killing people with recreated ancient weapons. Both figures looked as though they were ready for one hell of a fight; you could see streaks of blood already on their clothes and armor.

He knew something was bothering her and he wanted to know what it was. It wasn't that he didn't think she could take care of herself; but whatever this was it had her scared. In the past few weeks he had seen her in fear of her father, Fletcher, even the traffickers…but this was different. This was more like a never-ending helpless fear; it must be similar to the way he felt when he realized Hayley was going to die. All he wanted was for her to trust him enough to tell him what was wrong.

The more he stood there and thought about the paintings that Alecta was looking at he could not get over how much the woman in the second painting looked like Alecta. He was almost drawn to stare at it the same way he was over the real deal. Beyond the looks, there was that equal level of magnetism. He couldn't explain it. But he knew that the woman in the painting wasn't Alecta because the painting looked to be late Medieval or early Renaissance. But if he didn't know anything about the painting, he would have staked his life on the fact that the female figure was Alecta.

Coming more fully into the room, Hotch could hear her speaking quietly, as if speaking to the paintings; he couldn't make out the words she said, all he knew was that it was not English.

"I just came to tell you that I was going to get ready for bed."

Alecta nearly jumped out of her skin, her breathing almost sounded like she was running track.

"Ok, I'm coming, too."

Alecta tried to quietly cover the paintings back up with the burlap that they were wrapped in, but Hotch stopped her.

"You love your St. George collection."

"Yep. It's a beautiful idea that there is always someone that you can call on to help you fight your demons."

"And this woman looks so much like you."

"Perhaps she is a distant ancestor and it's a family resemblance. Of course, I always get told I'm an old soul; perhaps I was her in a past life."

_Take that Reid! _Alecta was able to creep up to the truth without going too far over that particular cliff just yet. She covered the paintings back up and turned to walk down the hall to the bedroom.

"Why do you keep them covered?"

"To keep them from getting damaged; they are quite old."

Hotch and Alecta shared the bathroom long enough to get their teeth brushed, then they took turns doing their nightly business; Alecta went last so she had a chance to wash her face a bit and take some ibuprofen before settling in….she was getting one bitch of a headache.

After finishing up in the bathroom, Alecta padded quietly back into the bedroom, hoisting herself up into the big bed. Hotch had been making notes on a pad that he kept on his bedside table, but once she jumped up into bed, he put it away quickly as she settled down next to him.

Wrapping his arms around her and rubbing his cheek against the top of her head, 'Alecta, I know there are things going on that you aren't telling me about. I won't ask you again what it all is, because you won't tell me anyway. But, I need you to know that you can trust me with whatever it is. It can't change what we have."

Those last words were nearly impossible for Hotch to form. Alecta had moved to where her upper body was lying on top of Hotch, licking up the left side of his neck only to nibble on his earlobe at the same time her small right hand had slid down into his boxers and was currently wrapping around his dick.

Alecta heard Hotch suck in a deep breath, as she begin to stroke him up and down, 'Shhh. You talk too much boss man. You really need to learn how to focus on the task in hand. AT HAND!...at hand."

Hotch couldn't help but chuckle at her word play. When she heard his laughter, Alecta looked up and winked mischievously before pressing their lips together; Hotch wasted no time in slipping his tongue into her mouth. He'd been jonesing for another one of these kisses since the last one. He couldn't explain it….it wasn't necessarily that Alecta's kisses were particularly sweet…well they were, but that was sort of beside the point…..it was almost undefinable….but the only thing that Hotch could compare it too was being hooked on drugs. You try it one time to see if you like it, and the next thing you know, getting the next fix is the only thing you can think about 24/7. Not able to get enough of the kiss, Hotch threaded his hands through Alecta's hair to pull her closer to him. Alecta had never let go of his length, if anything she wrapped her fingers around him tighter, squeezing. Hotch groaned into Alecta's mouth and pulled back.

"What's wrong boss man?"

"Mercy."

"What about mercy?"

"Have some."

"Now you know I'm not that kind of girl, I don't _do_ mercy; especially when I know for a fact that that isn't what you really want." Alecta grinned at him before nibbling on his collar bone.

_Oh crap. Have I created a monster?_ Hotch thought to himself.

"What is it that you seem to think I really want?"

The only answer Aaron got was the sensation of Alecta taking him into her mouth. He couldn't even see what she was doing because she was under the covers. Aaron's head fell back onto the pillow as Alecta continued to give him what had to be one of the best blow jobs he'd ever had in his life. It wasn't long before Hotch was doing his dead level best to throw the covers back so he could watch….an effort like this deserved to be admired. Within moments of tossing back the covers, Hotch was as close to losing it as he'd ever been.

He pulled her away from her duties of driving him completely insane, 'I thought you were supposed to be an angel."

Just for a split second, Alecta thought the jig was up, 'Oh honey, you have no idea." She said with a confident grin as she tried to go back to her originally scheduled program, but Hotch stopped her.

"Your turn."

He rolled them over until she was under him and he began moving down her body much the same way she had done to him. He had spent a few moments nibbling on her earlobe and the spot just behind it that was ordinarily quite ticklish (there weren't a lot of spots that weren't, he'd found that out to his great delight) but was also one of THEE spots. Next he snacked on her collarbone and moved on to suck on her left nipple…._why was this his favorite…not a clue…_ he thought to himself as he went about his work, moving to the right one and repeating the attention he'd given the left one. After some time he managed to work his way lower, kissing her stomach.

"I actually can't wait you know….to see them." He missed the look in her eyes as he moved lower. If he had seen it he would have seen the tears coming to her eyes at the idea that he was really happy as a clam about the fact that she was going to have babies, even though they weren't really his. Their own biological father hadn't really wanted them….hadn't ever really wanted her….She couldn't figure out how Hotch was so different from Fl….from him. But he was, and she was trying to reason with herself that that fact was all that really mattered. Feeling him plant his face between her legs and begin to….her train of thought completely derailed for a moment when he sucked her clit into his mouth. And that was all she remembered until she regained consciousness a few minutes later. He looked rather smug, pretty damned proud of himself, and had laid back onto the pillows and pulled her onto him, her head resting on his chest as he stroked her hair until she came back to him.

"What has you as giddy as a school boy?"

"I told you it was your turn; or did you forget the last time?"

Sitting up, 'It wasn't about…"

"I know, but I couldn't let you do all the work and have all the fun now could I?" Seeing the look she gave him, 'You didn't think stuffy old Hotch knew a trick like that did you?"

"You're not that old."

"You little shit.' Hotch grabbed at both of her sides, tickling the shit out of her, causing her to burst into laughter, not stopping until she had tears in her eyes and was barely able to breathe.

"Ok, uncle!" Apparently one of the babies thought the exact same thing because at that moment Hotch felt a substantial kick to the spot where his hand was resting on her stomach. When she grimaced in a little discomfort he stopped what he was doing immediately.

"And that was likely Sofie Jr."

"What are you talking about?"

"When I was carrying Sofie and Emma….just like now…Emma was the quiet one and Sofie was the demanding little drama queen. You've met the child, you know how she can be. And…oh hell, there will be two of them." Alecta raised her hand to her forehead.

"It won't be that bad…"Hotch stopped as he saw the look Alecta shot him.

"You've never been around Sofie during one of her full blown freak outs. Kid needs some valium. And, then there's little Emma, just as quiet as a church mouse. I love Sofie because she is so dramatic sometimes; it's part of her charm. But then there are times that she is just….and there will be two of them. I'm doomed."

"No you're not. You will have help this time. We'll be doomed together."

He noticed Alecta's eyes starting to get heavy now, she was really tired, but it was as if her mind wouldn't shut off and let her sleep.

They rolled over on their sides, Hotch snuggling up behind her, wrapping his arms around her snuggly, rubbing her belly. His head resting in the crook of her neck, he began to question her about what she had thought about naming these children. He could tell this was working on her, she was getting more drowsy by the moment. 'Pooky for the girl." Hotch busted out laughing at the thought of naming the little girl Pooky.

"No, really what do you want to name the girl?"

"Hmmm. I think,' Alecta paused for a yawn, '…I think Laila for the first name."

"What about for the boy?"

"Michael, for an old friend."

"Alecta?" Hotch carefully looked around only to notice that she was out like a light. If this was a Tom & Jerry cartoon, the 'Do Not Disturb' sign would have registered on her eyelids. Kissing her temple, Hotch pulled the covers back over them both and wrapped his arms back around her, settling in himself.

**Post AN: Yeah, I know, strange place to stop it all. But I figured, as good a place as any. This way, with any luck I can pick up Chpt 27 and get to this deviant, Mr. Dunbar and all the trouble he's about to cause. Until next time then.**


	27. Chapter 27

**Chpt. 27**

**So here we go, the next chapter. Just so you know, I have read that the name Laila is supposed to mean Guardian Angel. If I'm wrong, lemme know; and the boy's name of Michael, well we'll see.**

**Hopefully I will be getting around to dirty Mr. Dunbar this chapter. If not I apologize now, and will try to make it happen in the next chapter definitely; but Dunbar is the ultimate goal for this chapter.**

Since that night at Hotch's apartment where he asked her the names she had thought about for the twins nearly three weeks had passed. In that time Alecta and Hotch had done a little more shopping for her maternity clothes and some extra stuff for the babies; although she did eventually put a halt to that by saying that they needed to leave enough space in the nursery for the actual babies. They had also been to two doctor appointments to make sure the pregnancy was coming along smoothly, and it was. The babies were coming along nicely. There was even a shot of the little girl shoving her brother a little bit as if to make it well known she owned the lease on the space. The doctor couldn't help but laugh at the babies; they were active little devils.

"Laugh if you want, my daughter, Sofie, is just as bad as this little girl. And it's kind of worse; she can talk now. So…"

Beyond that life had been rather uneventful. Oh, there had been the odd sighting of the diplomat here and there at the most awkward moments for Alecta. And Jack had kept her informed about whether he saw that strange car around again. And he had seen the car, incidentally meaning that he saw Mr. Dunbar, at least four times in the past three weeks….and that was just sighting that Jack had made…there was no telling if he had been around at other times that nobody knew about.

Near the end of that third week, the team was finally called in on a case. It was in Western Pennsylvania, not too far away from Amish country or the Ohio state line. It was a small town area. If it wasn't for the murders that were taking place it would be a great little area to live. The case was about an UNSUB that was murdering pregnant women; they were all different hair/eye colors, but there did seem to be a favorite type. Brunettes. Petite brunettes. Before they had even touched down in PA, Hotch was already chewing nails.

The case had only taken four days to shut down. The UNSUB was an OBGYN that had been killing single pregnant women that had come to the clinic that he worked at. Apparently, his mother had been single when she brought him into the world, and his younger brother. She worked as a prostitute and was always gone all odd hours of the day. There were times that she would bring 'John's' home…the younger baby would be in a cradle in the same room as she turned her tricks, the older child, hiding in a closet or armoire of some sort. He watched it all as his mother earned her living flat on her back. In his later years he came to understand that those men weren't his uncles, and his brother likely had a different daddy from him…not that he would know the difference. Neither one of them had ever met their fathers. And then you factor in the fact that she was an abusive drunk when she wasn't tricking…..it was only a matter of time before one of her boys snapped. The UNSUB tried to rationalize what he was doing by saying he was saving those unborn children from having the life he had. Never mind the fact that none of these women were drunken prostitutes that turned tricks in front of their children. One woman had even been the widow of a soldier that had recently died in a skirmish in Iraq. He had died only three months before. It was bad enough that he had died protecting his country and would never have seen his child in the first place, but then to have his widow and unborn baby die in such a horrible way….and the family that was left behind. It was awful. Garcia went through a box and a half of tissues when they learned the fate of that young woman. Alecta was angry she wasn't able to go on the case as well, but doctor's orders….she had been through enough stress during this pregnancy to last two lifetimes he had said….if only he knew the half of it.

And of course she had started showing finally. By the time the gang hand gone on the case she was huge. Hotch had to admit she hadn't been lying; her babies might have been late bloomers in that respect, but they'd more than made up for it.

The day that they had caught the case, prior to this she had come to the office and brought lunch for everybody. She showed up in a pair of her new maternity jeans that she was actually quite proud of; they didn't look like regular maternity pants. And she had on a t-shirt and a cardigan that was a soft fuzzy material and was a creamy color. The t-shirt, Hotch laughed until he had tears in his eyes when he first saw it; apparently it had come in the mail earlier in the morning. It was a gift from Kevin, he had sent it almost immediately it seemed after being sent a more recent picture of the progress of Alecta's pregnancy.

Across the front, right about where her pregnant belly sat, were the words 'Mt. Everest'.

During lunch with the team, they had all gotten such a good chuckle off of it all that Alecta called Kevin up, leaving a message that said 'You're a dick, you know that right?' but unable to contain the humor in her voice before hanging up.

Most days during the case when the work load wasn't horrible, Garcia was able to get together with Will and Rachel and take Alecta and the children to dinner. It gave them all a chance to get to know each other better and blow off some steam all at the same time. Alecta even offered to keep Henry for Will to give him a night to himself if he would like it; she said that Sofie and Emma could come over, and the kids could have their own little slumber party.

On Wednesday, Alecta, Immogene, and Kong had managed to locate where this Mr. Dunbar (Andrew was his first name) lived. While he was still in school, around about 3:30 they picked the lock on his home and let themselves in. They quickly searched the premises and found his 'study'. Some of the shelves are lined with old video cassettes and some newer DVD's; these aren't Disney movies though. Taking two or three off of the shelf and playing them, the three friends discover that this maniac has made videos of himself sexually abusing some of the children he has taught over the years. Alecta knew what she had to do. This man was stalking the boys. He had been parked outside of JJ and Will's house watching them. He had been showing up at various places around town watching the boys, watching the team….like that night at the restaurant. He wasn't going to stop what he was doing until he got his hands on the boys, and Alecta wouldn't let that happen.

"You two can go, wait for me in the car, and park up the road. I'll be out when I'm done."

Immogene and Kong had started gathering up as many of the videos as they could carry in the bags that they brought with them. Dunbar was going down one way or the other. Both of her friends nodded in the affirmative when she made her declaration.

Within a matter of minutes, Kong and Immogene were gone. Alecta sat at the man's dining room table drinking a glass of water, waiting. He came in the house around 4:15, whistling a little tune that he had in his head. He hadn't noticed Alecta sitting there in his dining room as he turned to lock his front door, until he heard the gun clicking. He turned around with a curious look on his face.

"We have a lot of ways this can work out Mr. Dunbar. We can do this the easy way, or we can do this my way. But I promise you my way….it's ever so much more painful and….messy. And don't let my current rotund state fool you. I am still capable of inflicting great pain on you until I get the results I want."

"Then perhaps you should tell me what it is that you want."

"Jack and Henry, leave them alone. Come near them again and I will kill you on the spot."

"And just who the hell do you think you are?"

"I'm Jack's nanny. What's it to ya? Never mind who I am. I know who you are and what you are. And if you come near Jack and Henry again, if you lay so much as ONE finger on them, I will cut it off and feed it to you slowly….before I kill you. Now, I'm going to leave. I've taken the liberty of liberating your movie collection seeing as you won't be needing it anymore. Remember what I've said, think over your next actions carefully. I wouldn't want you to make any life altering decisions on the fly."

With that Alecta walked out of the house and up the street, making it about 30 feet before Kong and Immogene pulled up along-side of her at the sidewalk letting her in the car.

Everything was all set; the kids would stay over on Friday night. School had started back in last week and a half, and it would give Henry and Jack a chance to talk shop or whatever young boys discussed about elementary school these days. In the days prior to the sleep over Alecta had gone over with Jack several times what to do in case of an emergency.

He was to take Henry and the girls and hide in the closet in his bedroom, taking the emergency phone that she'd given him with them. He would first call 911 to tell them that someone had broken into his house and give his address and apartment number….they had gone over it several times to make sure he knew it by heart. She also talked him into keeping a baseball bat in his closet close by, just in case something bad happened, he would have some small way of trying to defend himself. Perhaps Hotch wouldn't approve; but Hotch wasn't here, and she wasn't going to leave that boy empty handed.

The night of the sleep over, they had inflated an air mattress and laid it out on the living room floor, having moved the coffee table off to the side, so they could flop out and watch some kids movies and stay up as late as they wanted. Alecta was sitting on the sofa watching it with them, not even attempting to get down in the floor….she kept picturing a turtle turned over on its shell. Yeah, the idea didn't appeal to her. Up each sleeve she had a dagger that was held in place by their own little straps. And there was a gun that was sitting wedged between the cushions to her left. The kids knew about it, and they had remained cool about it. Jack and Henry knew that with their parents jobs they were sort of vigilante and had guns in the house, although theirs usually stayed locked up in the safe. Jack was privy to the situation at hand and said nothing about the fact that she kept hers in the sofa cushions. And Sofie and Emma were used to their mother's ways, they were not fazed.

They were watching 'Toy Story' and laughing at something that Buzz Lightyear had said when Alecta heard the knob of the door jiggling. She heard the sound of something slipping between the door itself and the door jamb as if someone was trying to pop the lock.

"Kids, get up now and head for Jack's closet. Jack, you know what to do. Call 911, then call your father. Be as quiet as you possibly can. And be careful." She had whispered to them as she clicked the TV off.

"Mommy, what's going on?"

"Sofie, please just go with the others and get in the closet."

"Come on Sof. We gotsa go, mommy said."

Once the kids were out of the room and she had heard the closet door shut, she stood and got into position in the area that would be behind the door when it opened. The man on the other side of the door must have figured that she would be waiting for him. When he came through the door, she stuck her gun out, and he managed to disarm her quickly. A struggle ensued. There was some hand to hand combat. During the struggle, Alecta had knocked Dunbar to the floor where he scrambled to grab her gun, spinning around and shooting her in the chest. He missed her heart by mere inches. Alecta collapsed to the ground onto her back. Dunbar scrambled around some more until he was climbing on top of her, wrapping his hands around her throat trying to strangle her. With a flick of her wrists her daggers shot out of the end of her sleeves, in a last ditch effort to save her own life and the lives of her babies, she brought her wrists up to his neck, jabbing both blades into his throat, causing him to collapse on top of her. She pulled them out then, using her legs to shove him off of her and roll him onto the floor where he lay bleeding out. The world around her started going dark, she could hear the sirens in the back ground.

"Thank God, Jack…." She mumbled.

As she blacked out she could hear Sofie, 'Mommy! Mommy! You killed my Mommy!" with that she turned to the man and kicked his dead body so hard he rolled onto his side. All Alecta could think was _'Sofie, don't disturb evidence. Control your temper.'_ She blacked out just before the EMT's and first responders could make it into the apartment to the sound of Jack telling the people they weren't going anywhere until their Uncle Mac got there.

**Post AN: So, I got to Mr. Dunbar after all. I'll be damned. This chapter fell out of my head quickly. Can't wait to see what happens with chapter 28.**


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28-Here we are at chapter 28. Same as always….I don't own anything (except my OC) never have, and at this rate probably never will. **

**(Sarah McLachlan, Building a Mystery)**

**You come out at night**  
**That's when the energy comes**  
**And the dark side's light**  
**And the vampires roam**  
**You strut your rasta wear**  
**And your suicide poem**  
**And a cross from a faith**  
**That died before Jesus came**  
**You're building a mystery**

**You live in a church  
Where you sleep with voodoo dolls  
And you won't give up the search  
For the ghosts in the halls  
You wear sandals in the snow  
And a smile that won't wash away  
Can you look out the window  
Without your shadow getting in the way  
Oh you're so beautiful  
With an edge and a charm  
But so careful  
When I'm in your arms**

**'Cause you're working  
Building a mystery  
Holding on and holding it in  
Yeah you're working  
Building a mystery  
And choosing so carefully**

**You woke up screaming aloud  
A prayer from your secret god  
You feed off our fears  
And hold back your tears  
Give us a tantrum  
And a know it all grin  
Just when we need one  
When the evening's thin**

**Oh you're a beautiful  
A beautiful fucked up man  
You're setting up your  
Razor wire shrine **

**'Cause you're working  
Building a mystery  
Holding on and holding it in  
Yeah you're working  
Building a mystery  
And choosing so carefully**

Mac had arrived with Kong in tow, announcing that he was the uncle of the four young children as well as Alecta's attending physician. It wasn't exactly a lie. Mac was a qualified doctor. He was licensed in most of the states up and down the eastern sea board as well as parts of Great Britain. But medicine wasn't his bread and butter. In the world of the Agnes's and the George's Mac was sort of like a mob doctor. He could patch you up quickly depending on the injury; he could remove a bullet from minor gun-shot wounds…stitches he could do in a pinch….you name it he could do it. His capabilities were only limited by his environment. If he had the proper inventory he could damn near start his own battle front hospital. That idea brought a smile to his face as he remembered the time he commandeered an entire hospital in a small town in Scotland to patch up some of his friends. That was some of his better work.

Looking at the police officers, 'You are not allowed to question these children without their parents and/or child advocates present. And the woman on the stretcher is the mother of these two young girls. The mother of the young blonde boy, as well as the father of the older boy are FBI agents and are out of town on a case. Furthermore, the older boy's father is a former prosecutor, so please don't try something stupid."

"Well if you are typically her attending physician and their uncle, you're going to have your hands full, don't you think?"

"Why don't you let me worry about my job and you do yours alright? Because, if you try me my gorilla back here will lose his temper."

To add emphasis to what Mac said, Kong sort of growled a little under his breath and balled his fists up cracking his knuckles.

"And if _he_ gets one scratch on him, our dear girl here will hunt you down like dogs when she comes to. So, again, worry about doing your job collecting the evidence." Turning to Kong he told him to stay with the kids and Mac himself would ride in the ambulance with Alecta and the EMT's. Kong nodded his agreement and got the kids gathered up, packing their little back packs with things to bring with them (coloring books or favorite toys) that would keep them occupied at the hospital. Sofie, being Sofie, was beside herself; she was sure she had just watched her mommy die. Nobody could say anything to make her feel differently. Emma wasn't even getting through to her, reminding her that 'Mommy never gets dead'. Sofie wouldn't hear it, she knew what she saw. Kong had to carry her in his arms; she was so upset she had already cried until her eyes had just about swollen shut. It was true what everybody said about the girls. Emma was the quiet, thoughtful side of Alecta. Sofie was the emotional side that ran into a room shooting first and asking questions later. Walking out of the apartment, Emma took hold of Kong's free hand as Jack and Henry walked beside of her. Sofie rested her head on Kong's shoulder, twirling part of his hair around her little finger as she sniffled. Her mommy loved this big ogre, he was one of her favorite people, he had taught her a lot about the Punjab language and the food of his country….he was wonderful. He looked big and scary, but he was a nice daddy to his little kids at home. And his wife was so pretty, Sofie loved his wife, so did Emma for that matter. And Kong was always super good to them. He was one of Sofie's favorites as well as being Alecta's; he just was. From being so emotional, by the time that Kong had made his way to the car with the kids, Sofie had already fallen asleep against his shoulder, her little girl snores as she crashed.

At the hospital, Immogene and the girls met Kong and the kids and asked after Mac. Once they learned that he was with Alecta when she was brought in, Immogene calmed down. She set immediately to calling Agent Hotchner.

"SSA Aaron Hotchner."

"Agent Hotchner…"

"Immogene?"

"Yes. Please listen. We are at Mercy General. There was a break-in at your apartment. Alecta had Jack, Henry, Sofie, and Emma for a bit of a sleep over. The children are all safe, not a scratch on them. The intruder is dead. And right now, Alecta is in surgery. I haven't heard any news yet on her condition, but Mac is back there in the OR with them trying to get her patched up."

"Was she conscious at all when they brought her in?"

"Sir, I do not know. I only just arrived myself. I need to get off of here for the time being. I need to settle the children and find out if there have been any updates. I'll call you back as soon as I have anything for you."

"We are wrapping up the case as we speak. We were going to stay in town overnight to get some rest, but in light of the circumstances, we'll go ahead and head out to the airstrip and come on home. The only thing that might take a little time is some of this paperwork we have to file before we leave; the travel time itself shouldn't take more than about two hours. We can likely be there before 4 a.m."

"You just be careful. Jack, Henry, and the girls are all safe. Right now, it's just a waiting game to find out how Alecta is."

"Thank you for calling, we will be home soon."

After the phone call, Hotch turned to everyone and explained to them what had happened. The sheriff and his men hearing what had happened, helped to wrap up the paperwork as fast as possible. All it took was hearing the words-break-in, children, and injured pregnant woman-and they seemed to light a fire under everyone's asses.

The drive to the airstrip should have taken nearly an hour, but only took 30 minutes due to the fact that the deputies that were doing the driving flicked on the lights and sirens to clear a path.

Rossi had called ahead to make sure the jet was ready when Hotch first passed along the news; all the team had to do was embark.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Even though the flight home was probably one of the shortest the team had ever been on, it was also one of the longest. JJ had been on the phone with Will, double checking how Henry was doing. She was anxious to see her little boy. Even though the team had heard the kids were unharmed, it didn't mean the little boy wasn't scared. Although, Will did say that Henry was currently curled up with Jack on either side of Penelope, asleep. Both boys had refused to leave the hospital at all until they knew that Alecta would be alright.

Hotch was worried about Jack, he had managed to get back in touch with Immogene and she let him talk to the boy briefly. He wanted to hear Jack's voice to see if he sounded worried or afraid. Jack was as calm as a cucumber. The boy talked about helping Alecta on an adventure like some of the ones in her books. Jack was worried about Alecta though, when he talked about what happened to her he sounded extremely sad, but then he would perk right up by talking about how indestructible Alecta was and that she would be out of the hospital by lunch time. It was pretty clear that the boy was head over heels for his dad's new girl-friend; Jack thought the sun rose and set with Alecta.

After touching down at their local airstrip, the team made quick work of getting to Mercy General. Hotch flashed his badge at the people stationed at the desk in the lobby, saying that he was FBI and one of his agents had been admitted earlier. Once the introductions were over with the security officers gave the team the floor number they needed and told them to go to the nurse's station in the trauma wing. From there they would receive any further updates or instructions that were needed. Hotch and the team made their way to the nurse's station as instructed, a middle aged nurse happened to look up when she heard the movement coming down the hall.

"You must be the FBI agents I was told about. I'm Ruth. I'll take you to the waiting room with the others, then I'll go back and double check for an update on your friend for you."

"Thank you ma'am,' was all that Hotch could come up with.

Once they were lead into the waiting room by Ruth, she turned and left to do as she had promised. When she was gone, Jack and Henry ran to their parents and hugged them.

"Jack are you ok?" Hotch asked, it was barely registering with him that JJ had asked Henry the same thing.

"Yeah daddy."

"What happened?" JJ questioned.

"You'll have to ask the boy,' Immogene said nodding to Jack.

Hotch looked at his son, 'Well, Daddy, it's like this. We were lying in the floor watching 'Toy Story', when there was a sound at the door. It didn't sound like when you come home and try to use your key. Somebody was jamming something in the door to bust the lock. That's what Lex said anyway. She had been training me for weeks that if anything bad happened I was supposed to go hide in my closet and be quiet. She gave me this emergency cell phone and told me to make three calls if bad things ever happened. The first call was to the police. The second would be to you. And the third would be to Uncle Mac, in case you and the others were on a case and couldn't come help….that way Uncle Mac could take care of us until everybody came home.

She told me to take Henry and the girls to the closet and be quiet like she had taught me; she let me keep a baseball bat in there in case something happened to her and the bad people came after us. She said that I was too young for anything else.

Daddy the gun made a noise, Lex yelled….I couldn't keep Sofie from running out, you know how she is. I had already called the cops. Before I could get out to the living room, I could hear Sofie yelling at the bad man that he killed her mommy, and kicking him….Lucky for her the guy was dead already. The cops came. I wouldn't go with them daddy, I had rules to wait for Uncle Mac so I did."

"Jack, I need to ask you something. Alecta has been a little….strange lately. Do you know anything about that?"

Jack looked down and away, he didn't want to lie to his father, but he didn't want to rat out Alecta either.

"Jack…"

"Okay. Alecta said I should always say the truth if you asked….not to tell you unless you asked, but then when you did, not to lie about it." Jack took a deep breath. "The man she killed is Mr. Dunbar. He's a teacher at our school."

"Son of a…"

"But daddy, he wasn't a nice man. One time I saw him sitting in his car across the street from Henry's house, we were playing outside with aunt JJ and Uncle Will. At first I couldn't see his face; I just thought it was some guy reading a map in his car. Sometimes at school he would ask a kid to stay for detention, and then after this happened two or three times, that kid didn't come to school there anymore….don't know why, they were just gone. I guess the moms and dads would take them away. You'll have to find out.

That night that she got back from the hospital, the other day, she had the girls over,' looking carefully to Immogene before continuing, 'I heard sounds coming from her office so I went to see if she was alright. She asked me questions about Mr. Dunbar.

Daddy, she said that the night that we all went to that restaurant, Mr. Dunbar was out in the parking lot in his car watching us. I remember she looked behind us, and put her arm around me to pull me closer. She said that he gave her a dirty look, like he hated her.

When she was finished asking me questions she told me that if Mr. Dunbar asked me to stay for detention to tell him _NO_ and come straight home or to Aunt Jessica's…and that if he had issues with what happened that he could call her, and she gave me a card with a phone number for him to call. She said that the story she was going tell him was that she was my nanny for when you were away on business and that if he had a problem with behavior in school, that he would have to wait and speak to you before I was to be put into detention…but that she would not make me stay with the man."

"Is that all that you know? She hasn't told you of any other reason that she might be worried about something?"

"No daddy, I promise, this is all that I know. Oh, and she gave me this, saying it would help protect me." Jack showed his dad the St. George's medal that Alecta had given him.

Reid had begun to feel a little guilty by now. He knew what had Alecta terrified at present. "I'm going to go get some coffee, anybody else want some?" All he knew was that he had to step away from the team for a second. In a group of profilers someone was sure to smell the guilt on him soon.

As Reid stepped away, Rossi watched him and got up to follow, saying that he would help Reid carry the extra coffees.

Cornering Reid in the 'Refreshment Center' just down the hall from the waiting room, 'Alright kid, what do you know?"

"R-Rossi, you scared the shit out of me old man, don't do that."

"What. Do. You. Know."

"I'm not sure I follow your question."

"You're not stupid. Answer the question. Hotch may not have seen you go white as a sheet, but I did; you know something. What is it?"

"Look….I can't really tell you anything much. All I _can_ tell you is that Alecta seems to think that someone is following her. Beyond that you will have to ask her what's going on. I promised her I wouldn't say anything. And, after seeing what has happened to people that cross her these last few weeks, I'm inclined to keep my mouth shut. Besides, she deserves a little….God, I can't think of the word. But she needs it, whatever it is. Someone to watch her back, to keep her secrets until she's ready to tell them. I will not break my promise to her."

"Even if it might be dangerous to her if you do keep your mouth shut?"

"Perhaps it would be more dangerous for us than for Alecta and that is why she begged me to keep my mouth shut. Either way, she asked me for a favor, and I will not back out."

"What if something happens during surgery and she doesn't make it?"

"Trust me, she will."

"How can you be so sure?"

"Rossi, please, I promised her. When she is able she will tell the team everything."

Rossi and Reid made their way back to the waiting room carrying two trays each of coffee, trying to make sure they had enough for just about everybody.

Hotch was pacing. Penelope was sitting there quietly talking with Immogene and the other girls' she was so out of the loop on some of the things that were going down and she didn't care for that at all. Derek was sitting next to Pen with an arm around her waist, trying not to eaves drop, but to support her whatever happened next….as well as keeping his eyes on Hotch. Rossi had called Mrs. King and told her where he was and all that he knew so far and that he would try to call soon with an update. Mrs. King had jumped up out of bed and began dressing as soon as she picked up the phone when he called. As soon as they hung up from talking together, she called for a cab, giving him the name of the hospital and telling him to get her there as quickly as he could. JJ and Will were sitting there, close together watching Henry play with Jack and the girls, thanking God that Alecta had stopped this insane person from getting near the kids and also praying that she and her babies would come out of this in one piece. Although Sofie had calmed down considerably after being held by Kong and talking to her Aunt Immogene, she was still a little bit on edge about what she saw. She was so sure that her Mommy was dead. Emma was doing her best to keep Sofie's mind off of things, she even brought the doll with her that Hotch and Emily knew belonged to that child/ghost Daphne; Emma knew how much Sofie had grown attached to that doll….they both did. At one point, Sofie just sat by herself in a chair in the corner, hugging that doll tightly, not really talking to anyone. Jack wouldn't have that. He walked over and hopped up sitting next to Sofie in the chair.

"Your mommy is going to be alright. She didn't get dead."

"How do you know?"

"I just do. If you want me to stay here with you, I can."

Sofie only nodded, resting her head on Jack's little shoulder, still hugging the doll to her for dear life.

Emma had been sitting with Emily, coloring and drawing, staying quiet as always. Mrs. King had finally arrived at the hospital and went past the security desk and asked for directions to the trauma ward and the security officer escorted her to the waiting room. On her way in the cab, she had called her granddaughter and told her what happened; Rachel and Jeffy made their way to the hospital as quickly as possible, meeting the older woman just as she was entering the hospital. The small group went up together.

Upon reaching the waiting room, 'Well old man, ya got any news yet?"

Rossi looked up at Mrs. King, shaking his head _NO_. "We've even drawn our badges and pushed our weight around, and gotten no results."

Immogene spoke up, 'I'll go see if Mac can tell me anything."

"He's back in the OR, you can't go back there." Reid informed her.

"Watch me."

Immogene got up from her seat and walked right up to the door leading to the OR, a nurse coming to try to stop her. Immogene, who was several inches taller than the petite nurse, merely looked down at the woman, arching an eyebrow….to which the smaller woman just backed away allowing Immogene to proceed on her way.

It took her several minutes to locate the area where Mac was with Alecta.

In the meantime out in the waiting room, Emma put her crayon down, standing up from her little chair at the kids table. Sofie saw her move, and watched her for a moment. Emma turned and looked at Sofie. Sofie noticed a strange look in her sister's eye. Emma tilted her head only slightly, signifying that Sofie should come with her.

Just as the girls got up to make their move, 'Girls, where are you going?" They heard their Aunt Cossette ask.

Sofie, usually so quick with some sort of a comeback was at a loss for words, Emma answered for her this time. "Just gotta go get a drink from the fountain, s'all"

The water fountain was mere feet from the door to the waiting room, Cossette nodded that it was alright.

As soon as they were close to the fountain they began to walk up the hall way a bit further, they had no idea where they were going, but they had the urge to go that way. Then they took a left out of a door into a stairwell, going down nearly four flights of the stairs before they saw a strange looking man in a rumpled suit.

"Aren't you two exactly like your mother?' his strange accent pouring over the girls. "It is impossible to tell which one is Sofie and which one of you is Emma. Come with me girls, I can take you to your mother."

The girls began to follow the strange man in the old rumpled suit. He seemed to know their names, and their mother. And they couldn't ignore his request if they tried. They merely followed like lambs to the slaughter.

Back in the waiting room, Hotch stopped pacing and whirled around. Looking towards the group of people there with him scattered all over the room, he looked to the right a bit and saw a boy standing there. It was the same boy that was in that old house they found Alecta in when Mark Goodnight took her. The boy was back; he looked at Hotch worriedly.

Turning back to face the group, 'Where are Sofie and Emma?"

Everyone else looked up from what they were doing, realizing at that moment that the girls hadn't come back from their trip to the water fountain. Seeing the clueless looks on everyone's faces, Hotch made a quick dash out of the room and down the hall; he ran to the nurse's station, asking if they had seen two little girls come that way or not. Most of the nurses thought he was nuts; they had been running around the trauma ward trying to see to patients, they had practically no time to baby-sit two little girls.

Hotch was about to panic. Alecta had taken a bullet making sure that the four smallest kids in this mismatched family had remained safe, and now they had managed to lose her two youngest children in a matter of seconds; not to mention after all the drama of the last two weeks, Hotch just couldn't begin to imagine who might have them.

Backing away from the nurse's station a bit, Hotch spun around on his heel looking in every direction, as the others began to go through the entire trauma ward looking for the girls. Turning back to the left, he saw the boy's ghost standing in front of the door to a stairwell; he followed it and took the stairs two at a time. Getting closer he could hear the girls talking to someone else in the stairwell…he could hear the echoes of their little voices, and then he heard the echo of a man's voice with a thick accent speaking back to them.

Rossi had seen Hotch take off for the door to the stairs, and yelled for the team to follow him. Mrs. King, Rachel, Lakshmi, and Oona stayed behind to watch the other children that were left behind.

The ghost boy knew that Hotch would never get close enough in time to keep this strange man from taking the girls….and even if he did what was he going to do to the man? This person might harm Hotch. Summoning up whatever strength he had as a ghost, the boy yelled out "HEY!" and pushed the stranger down, causing him to roll down nearly an entire flight of stairs. It wasn't much but it would buy Hotch a few seconds to get to the girls.

As soon as the man landed at the bottom of the flight of stairs, Hotch had managed to get close enough to the girls to wrap his arms aounr them. By this time, Rossi and Morgan had managed to catch up. Hotch grabbed Sofie and Rossi grabbed Emma. Morgan had pulled his gun to make sure they had somebody to cover them.

Just as the three men were grabbing the two little girls, they looked up to see the stranger in the rumpled suit standing up, about to make his way back to the girls. Looking up he realized he was not alone any longer.

In his thick accent, 'Tell that…."calming himself slightly, 'Tell Alecta that I'll be seeing her soon." He smiled a menacing sort of smile that made the hairs on the backs of the three men's necks stand up, and then he was gone. Just gone.

Hotch hugged Sofie tightly, as Rossi did the same to her sister.

"Who's the boy Hotch?" Morgan spotted the young boy standing mere feet away.

Sofie finally snapped out of it, 'His name is Jesse. How old are you?"

"He says he was seven.' Emma chimed in.

"When?' Rossi was getting curious.

"He said he got hurt in 1937. How'd you get hurt?" Emma was genuinely concerned now. Her new friend said he was hurt.

Sofie began to get back to her old self a little bit when the boy refused to tell them what they wanted to know, 'Why won't you tell us?"

"Oh. Well, thank you." Sofie had calmed down quickly.

"Sofie what did he say?"

"Mr. Agent Man,' her pet name for Morgan, 'He said he wanted us to know what had happened, but it was kinda bad, and he doesn't want to make us upset."

"Mr…."

Hotch looked at the boy, 'Yes?"

"He will be back, sooner than you think. Please, take them home."

Sofie turned in Hotch's arms, 'I'm not leaving my mommy."

The boy, Jesse, leaned forward and whispered something into Sofie's ear and handed her a medallion. Sofie turned it over in her little hand, looking back up at the boy.

"Jesse, where'd you get this?"

"Mr. Man gave me it."

Sofie turned to Hotch, 'Mr. Aaron, I'll go wif you…Emmy we gotsa go wif Mr. Aaron."

Emma simply nodded her head and wrapped an arm around Rossi's neck.

"Sofie, do you want me to carry that for you, in my pocket?"

"NO! I mean, no sir. I gots it." So much like her mother, Sofie leaned over, while still in Hotch's arms and inserted the little medallion into her shoe.

Before they could all leave, Sofie turned to the boy, 'Be careful, K."

"Of course I'll be careful. I gotta go. I'm coming momma." As the little boy spoke about his mother he turned and vanished, having walked right through the wall of the stairwell, his last words lingering in the air.

"Poor Jesse." Emma muttered as they got up to leave.

"What's wrong with poor Jesse?" Rossi asked.

"Ever since he gotted hurt, his mommy all the time wants him by her side. Never lets him have any fun. But he lets her be like that because when he got hurted, she was very sad…."

"Very sad,' Sofie echoed.

"It wasn't so long before she hurted herself so she could be with her son. His daddy lived a long time after, but he never did nothing anymore 'cept drink every day. What does that mean? What did he drink?"

"He prolly drank the ka-ka water that mommy told us to stay away from. Poor, poor Jesse." Sofie shook her head before laying it on Hotch's shoulder as he turned to take lead them out of the hospital. Before leaving completely, Hotch explained that he was taking the girls and Jack home, that they had enough excitement for one day and needed to rest. And that Rossi and Morgan would come with him to help keep an eye on them. JJ and Will soon left, taking Henry with them. Pen and the girls stayed with Mrs. King and Rachel, as did Reid and Prentiss. Morgan followed Hotch and Rossi in his own SUV.

On the way back to Hotch's apartment, the twins had both dozed off, they were holding hands. When they were awake they were as different as two children could be, especially considering they were identical twins. But there were moments when they were exactly the same, and this was one of them.

Upon arriving back at the apartment, Hotch and Rossi each grabbed a twin and carried her up to the apartment, while Morgan made sure Jack got safely out of the SUV. They went inside, Hotch and Rossi took the girls into Alecta's office and set them down on the day bed.

"Mommy's cave?" Emma muttered tiredly.

"Yes baby,' Rossi confirmed.

Sofie snapped awake really quickly and she jumped down off of the bed and ran over to her mother's desk and pulled open a drawer…she began to rifle through the drawer, looking for something.

"Sofie, should you be going through your mother's things?"

"Mr. Aaron, when we're older, and Mommy gets too old to do this, everything is ours. She's been teaching us fings. Emmy, if you were a key, where would Mommy put you?"

Emma jumped down and began trying to help look, 'But why you need a key?"

"Gotta find a kit." Sofie looked at her sister, widening her eyes to emphasize the point she was trying to make.

"What kind of….OH!" Sofie's point just hit Emma. 'Hang on."

Emma went over to the desk, crawling under the desk, she looked up underneath it, finding the key that must have been the one in question because Sofie squealed in happiness at seeing it.

"What are you girls looking for?"

"Uh…." Emma looked at Sofie, 'Any bright ideas?" she was heard to mumble.

"Um. It's a first aid kit."

"Sofie, we have one of those in the bathroom on one of the high shelves. What do you need a first aid kit for?"

Sofie clicked her tongue against her teeth, making a TSK sound. Rossi couldn't help but chuckle in spite of himself. She turned away looking for the kit in question that her mother had hidden in the room.

"Sofie, is this it?" Emma held up an intricately carved wooden box, made from….

"Is this Acacia wood?"

Sofie looked at Agent Rossi, 'Yes."

"It's the Seyal variety." Emma interjected.

"How did you mother come by Acacia Seyal wood?"

"What's the big deal Rossi?"

"It's from around Egypt, Senegal, Kenya, and the Sahara. In some circles it is thought to be the kind of wood they built the Ark of the Covenant from….they used it in ancient times, sometimes still do, to build coffins. And these carvings are old; Reid could tell you better than I can, but they look like they are of the style from the 2nd century B.C.E. How did your mother come by this box?"

"She's had it since before we were born, dunno." The guilty look on Sofie's face told Rossi a different story.

"What's in this first aid kit of yours, eh Sofie?" Hotch opened it, and saw the dagger and the musket and the prayer beads and the silver cross on a chain as well as silver musket balls.

"Mr. Aaron, you know how to work a musket?" Emma grinned at him.

"My daddy can shoot anything."

"Ok, well can he shoot a musket?" Emma arched an eyebrow at Jack.

"Daddy can you shoot a musket?"

"Why is there a musket in there?"

"Duh, Mr. Aaron." Emma gave him the look in her eyes that almost said, 'I thought you knew everything'.

"Mommy didn't have time to change the gun in this one like she did for the one she gave to uncle Spence….oops." Sofie flinched and closed her eyes as Emma reached over and pinched her on the arm.

"What do you mean?"

"Tell 'em Sofie, you opened that can of worms. Tell 'em."

"The blank space on the shelf….there was a kit in a silver box. Mommy said she bought it in an oddity shop in Paris years ago. She gave it to Uncle Spencer."

"How do you know who she gave it to?"

Emma rolled her eyes, she thought the FBI hired smart people, 'Well, the three of you are asking too many questions; if you had seen one of Mommy's kits before you'd know everything. And besides, when Mommy told us about the store she bought it in, she even said that she wished that Uncle Spencer could have seen the place. She said that he would have loved it so much he would never have left probably."

"Emmy, we shoulda known somefin was up though….' Sofie was tugging on the sleeve of Emma's little shirt.

"Shhh! Sofie. Don't."

Usually Sofie was the more dominant personality of the twins; as far as watching out for her sister and her mother went. But it seemed that when it came to protecting some of their mother's secrets, Emma was the one you had to watch out for.

"Girls, somebody better start talking; something is going on, and we want answers." Rossi spoke sternly to the twins as Hotch's phone rang.

"Ask Uncle Spency. He knows it."

"I have, and he said that I would have to ask your mother."

"Well, what do you want from us? We're four." Emma shrugged her shoulders and rolled her eyes at the older man.

Coming back into the room Hotch gave the group an update, 'Alecta is out of surgery. She will be alright. The doctor did say that the bullet missed her heart by mere inches. I think we're lucky that Mr. Dunbar wasn't a better shot than he was. According to the nurse, Alecta will be out for a few hours sleeping off the anesthesia."

"I'll call Pen and tell her to call us when Alecta wakes up and we can head back over there if you want, and we can start getting answers to these questions."

"Morgan, you stay here with Hotch and the kids. I am going to go and talk to Reid again."

"Again?"

"Yes, Hotch, again. Earlier when we first got to the hospital and you were asking Jack what he knew about everything, Reid had a guilty expression on his face. And I followed him when he got the coffee for the team, cornered him, and questioned him about what he knew. He told me absolutely nothing. And after what we saw in the stairwell back there, we need answers and we need them sooner rather than later."

"Alright, but don't push him too hard, you know that never gets you anywhere with Reid."

"Wait!"

"Sofie, what is it?"

"Don't go. Please, stay. Emmy, we gotsa tell 'em. He'll leave if we don't,' Sofie had leaned over to 'whisper' to her sister, though in reality, the men could hear every word she had said.

"You can't go." Emma's eyes were as big as saucers, as if to try to translate the importance of what she was saying.

"And why not? Girls, we need answers, we need to know what's going on."

"Emmy…."

"Mommy wouldn't like this."

"Mommy can't do anyfing about it right now. What if he leaves Emmy? What if….' Sofie was starting to get all emotional at the thought of what could happen.

"Pops, if we tell you what is going on, you have to believe us, it's all true. And you can't leave. At least not right now. M'k?"

"That depends on what you have to say."

"Hmmmmm….Deal." Sofie answered quickly. "What, we gotsa do sumfin', Mommy needs help." Again these last few words were an attempt to whisper, failing.

"M'k. Now, before mommy made us in her tummy, when she was 'bout Sissy's age, she went on a trip. She said it was to Romania, she showed us pitchers one time, they were so pretty. Anyway, Mommy said that some of her friends made a dare with her that she wouldn't be able to spend the night alone in the tassle on the mountain. It was a ooky old place and the bricks all fallin' off an' stuff. She showed us it in pitchers. Aschew" Emma had to stop for an epic sneeze.

"Bless you Emmy,' Sofie chimed.

"Fanks. Anyway, Mommy did it, because she used to love a good adventure she said. And 'sides, she ain't no chicken. An' so she did it. She never told us what she saw or heard that night, 'cause she said that it might make us not seep no more. But then sometimes this person will hunt her down…."

"The man from the hospital?" Jack questioned quickly as Sofie sneezed super hard, "Bless you Sofie."

"Fanks. Uh huh that man from the hopsital….hospital. Him. Mommy said he's like the devil, he makes people go asleep and never come back…and if they do come back it's not a good thing."

"A stranger from Romania? Girls, are you trying to tell us that Drac…"

"AAAAschew.' Rubbing her nose with a tissue that Emma had given her, Sofie spoke up, 'Don't say it Mr. Aaron, don't. It'll make things worse than they are."

Emma helped out, 'But yes. The strange man is still around, not so much alive, and he's been hunting Mommy for a long time. He was going to make us go away so he could make Mommy come look for him."

Emma let off a hideously large sneeze.

"Sweet heart, what's wrong? Something has you and Sofie just messed up." Morgan asked her after she had to steady herself after losing balance from the force of the sneeze.

In a stuffy voice, 'it's nuffin' Agent Man. We're jus' allergic to chalk."

"But there isn't any chalk in the place."

"Umb, bister Aaron, comeb here." Sofie said, standing up and wiggling her little finger at him, to lead him into the living room.

"Moob that table, and den da rug." Hotch did what the little girl had instructed and found the cross on the floor with the other symbols.

"Momby dinn't draw dose wif crayons now did she?"

"But Sofie, you and your sister were here earlier, lying in the floor even and there was no allergic reaction." Dave tried to call her out on the discrepancy of her statement.

"Well Pops, we were only here for about an hour maybe. We just got home from seeing Sissy and Aunt Pen. And we dinn't have thime for it to make uth sneethe. Andow we're back and it's cwazy." She doubled over sneezing.

"If you're allergic to the chalk, why would your mother use it?"

"How bad would you be if she used paint?" Emma asked meaning to ask if Hotch would be _mad_, she tried to breathe in through her nose which was futile with it being so stuffy.

"Hotch the smurf has a point." Derek conceded.

"Fank you Agent Man." Emma nodded to him, accepting of his little nickname for her.

"Pssst. Jack, can you hand be a….a tissue? Gimme one for Emby, too.' Thinking quickly, 'Please."

"Can somebody help be blow by nose?" Hotch looked over to where Emma was standing, her eyes were starting to water from her allergies to the chalk, as were Sofie's. He knelt next to the little girl and held the tissue up to her nose for her.

"Fank you Mr. Aaron,' she mumbled miserably.

"Just let me know if I pinch too hard okay."

"M'kay. Just hurwy…my dose…."

"Here we go sweety." He placed the tissue back up to her nose and signaled to her to start blowing.

In the meantime Rossi had gone to the bathroom and got two warm damp wash cloths and handed one to Hotch and walked over to Sofie and sat down on the sofa, pulling her onto his lap.

"Turn to me Sofie, I'm gonna wipe your eyes a bit."

"Fank you Pops."

"I still can't believe she would use chalk if the two of you are allergic."

"Mr. Aaron…she couldn't use paint, and she couldn't nail holes in the walls…"

"Emma, what are you talking about?"

Emma cracked one eye open and located Morgan, once eye contact was made she pointed to a picture on the wall behind him and made a spinning motion with her little index finger. Morgan, getting the hint, took hold of the framed photograph on the wall and took it down.

"Hotch, look."

Hotch turned and saw there were more drawings on the wall behind the picture.

"Mommy prolly put them all over the room…..' Emma said as Hotch finished wiping her nose and picked up the washcloth to wipe her eyes.

"An' ya might wanna check un'er your bed Mr. Aaron….and maybe Jack's, too."

"Why would she do such a thing?" Rossi thought out loud.

"You gave her shelter; she knew that monster would come looking for her at all cost." Hotch, Rossi, and Morgan all jumped at hearing an unfamiliar male voice suddenly speak out. Looking around they see another unknown man standing before them. This one was slightly different from the first stranger they had seen today. This man was dressed in the knee breeches and a long waist coat from some time….

"What? When?" Rossi was rarely at a loss for words.

"Mr. Man!" Both twins squealed with excitement, running forward and wrapping their arms around his legs to hug him as he stood before them.

"My dear girls, it's been far too long since you last came home."

"Talk a'mommy 'bout that." Sofie chirped.

"Mr. Man, we gots a piece from Jesse. We knew you'd come." Emma was as happy as a clam, just gushing over the fact that this…person was there.

"I'm Aaron Hotchner, you're in my home. Who are you? And where or when do you come from?"

"James is my given name, though the girls call me Mr. Man. I was executed in 1590, it was the summer. I was a highwayman by trade. I had….' Looking down at Emma and Sofie, 'I had done a lot of bad things. Even as they tied the rope around my neck I was unrepentant to the very end. I don't think they ever really found all of my….Let's just say, that sometimes when you're out on the moors you can still hear the cries of the ones who were unfortunate enough to know me."

"Why would Alecta let you anywhere near her or her children?"

"She wasn't left much choice; in death I was left no option but to wander the estate that had once been my hunting ground. I wander the grounds of the estate, though now it is a small highland village, as well as the house itself. In my time on this side of the veil of death I have had time to think, I have had time to try to make reparations for my crimes. Once I saved Alecta's life, another one of us was poking around the old place, and he struck out to do her harm. I make sure that doesn't happen. I am charged to protect those that live in or near the premises. That is my duty, it is the least I can do."

"But why are you _here_?"

"It is known in certain circles that someone hunts our girl. A mutual friend wants to see to it that he is finally put in his grave, permanently. I am here to look after these little mites until Alecta is back on her feet and can do it properly herself. I must warn you, ending this will be easier said than done. Our strange diplomat has had nearly 600 years to build a following, building an army of his own. And he will use every dirty trick he can to make sure he comes out on top."

"Why wouldn't Reid just tell me what he knew?"

"The boy made a promise, he intends to honor it, and there is nothing wrong with that; and from what I have been lead to understand, he is a man of science….this would be far outside the realm of his understanding. Besides, he knows ever so much more than you think."

"What pray tell would that be?"

"Oh no sir, you won't hear about it from me. That is a different adventure for a different day. You have to let the chips fall where they may. But I can tell you this, you will be finding out soon enough."

**Post AN: The same goes for the rest of you, you'll learn more later, just gotta hang on a bit longer, hopefully I haven't lost many of you that do read me to some of the supernatural stuff….I sort of like it myself, it's fun to write in any case. Peace out until I see you again in 29 land.**


	29. Chapter 29

**Chpt. 29**

**Don't own squat; sometimes I forget to mention it…..or not so much forget, but a girl can dream right.**

**(Imagine Dragons, Radioactive)**

**Woah, woah, woah  
Woah, woah, woah  
Woah, woah, woah  
Woah**

**I'm waking up to ash and dust  
I wipe my brow and I sweat my rust  
I'm breathing in the chemicals**

**I'm breaking in, shaping up, then checking out on the prison bus  
This is it, the apocalypse  
Whoa**

**I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones  
Enough to make my systems blow  
Welcome to the new age, to the new age  
Welcome to the new age, to the new age  
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm radioactive, radioactive  
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm radioactive, radioactive**

**I raise my flags, don my clothes  
It's a revolution, I suppose  
We're painted red to fit right in  
Whoa**

**I'm breaking in, shaping up, then checking out on the prison bus  
This is it, the apocalypse  
Whoa**

**I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones  
Enough to make my systems blow  
Welcome to the new age, to the new age  
Welcome to the new age, to the new age  
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm radioactive, radioactive  
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm radioactive, radioactive**

**All systems go, the sun hasn't died  
Deep in my bones, straight from inside**

**I'm waking up, I feel it in my bones  
Enough to make my systems blow  
Welcome to the new age, to the new age  
Welcome to the new age, to the new age  
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm radioactive, radioactive  
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, I'm radioactive, radioactive **

_**(In Chapter 28, you met James, the highwayman. This chapter opens with Hotch, Rossi, and Morgan asking him a few further questions).**_

"What I don't get….I understand you're here to help Alecta and the twins. But what I haven't figured out is….Spirits don't usually attach themselves to objects or people." Morgan said.

"Who have you been talking to sir? We can do what we bloody well please. Well, within reason. We can cross bodies of water, everyone thinks that is an obstacle, when actually it acts as a conductor…water makes it worse. And after the time you spent with Alecta at her home, have you learned nothing about us at all? Daphne has her doll, 'Revolutionary Dan' has his jacket, Constance has her deck of cards, Abigail and Ezra have their rings, Dorian has….Well he's Dorian, he's paying for his sins….We can go anywhere we want, we can be mere shadows, or we can become solid, as I am now. The only thing that we are rarely allowed to do, except in utter emergencies is to hurt one of the living. That particular trick….someone has to be in grave danger for us to be allowed to use physical force to hurt one of the living."

"What about this strange diplomat you speak of? What are you allowed to do to him?" Rossi glanced up from the girls sitting with the strange man.

"Anything it takes. He's not alive, he's not dead. He's evil, the devil really. No, that's not accurate, even the devil has better sportsmanship. I should know, I did meet him once. This monster will stop at nothing to either have her by his side or to cage her up to control her, or he will try his dead level best to kill her."

"Why does he hate Alecta so much?" Hotch asked the question that seemed to be on everyone's mind at the moment.

James (Mr. Man) thought for a second, he needed to find just the right words. "They have history together."

"You don't say. Could you be a little bit vaguer?" Rossi asked.

"Look. What do you know about your girl, Alecta?" James looked over to Hotch.

"She's in her late 30's, say 38. She has six children; well she is expecting numbers 7 and 8. She's from NC. Her father was abusive; she was lead to believe that her mother was dead since she was four years old. She used to work for the LAPD. She was married twice…."

"HA! You know practically nothing. Your good friend Dr. Reid….you should talk to him. He can tell you the short form version."

"I've tried asking him and he says he was sworn to secrecy."

"Well, then I don't know what to tell you."

"The truth. You could try telling us that." Hotch glared at the man.

"But where would be the fun in that?"

"Really?" Morgan protested and cocked his gun.

"I'm already dead; I died nearly 430 years ago. What are you gonna do, shoot me?' James' head gave a jaunty little motion. 'Besides, I _was_ a highwayman. What were you expecting? My soul purpose at this time is to protect the little ones, nothing more….until the situation changes, and I receive a different set of orders. What I can tell you is that most of the information that you are going to want to look for is in her cave of wonders. The information won't tell you everything but it will put you on the right track. When all else fails, go through that room."

"Very well. At least that's something.' Hotch agreed.

"Aaron, that's not a damned thing." Rossi was not happy about Hotch conceding defeat.

"Look, Alecta needs help with whatever _this_ is. And we need help with her, apparently. I for one do not want to piss off the few people we have in our corner."

"Well….now that you put it that way…..'Rossi was trying hard to see it Hotch's way.

"Look….I know it's a daunting task. She has accumulated a lot of things over the years…..so very many years…..You have no idea. But, if there ever comes a time where you are lost for answers about her….If there ever comes a time when she's not around anymore to ask her yourself….everything you need to find her, everything you need to answer those questions, it's all in that room somewhere; you just have to know where to look."

"Why wouldn't she be around anymore? What are you getting at man?"

"I've really already said too much. Just, trust me; use that room to your advantage while you can. In the meantime, I need to get these little ones off to bed."

Everyone looked down to see that Sofie and Emma had fallen asleep, their heads resting on James' stomach. He had an arm around each of them. Without much movement he managed to arrange it to where he held each of them in his arms, close to his side as he walked to the cave to set them on the daybed. Jack had fallen asleep on the couch sitting next to Sofie, Hotch wound up carrying him to bed as well; he wondered if there wasn't something more he should be doing to try and protect his son better. But then he thought back to something that Emma had said about Alecta putting symbols all over the apartment. Kneeling down closer to the floor under Jack's bed, Hotch lifted a flap on the area rug that was under the bed, then he grabbed the flashlight off of the nightstand that Jack kept there in case he had to get up in the middle of the night…..turning the flashlight on and pointing it to the floor, Hotch saw the beginnings of more religious markings.

"I'll be damned,' Hotch thought to himself.

Hotch walked out of Jack's bedroom and made his way down the hall to the living room with a perplexed look on his face.

"What is it Hotch?"

"Emma was right. There are more drawings under Jack's bed as well. I guess I don't even have to look under mine, I think I already know the answer to that question."

"Well, look, we need to get some rest. There's no telling what time they will call us with updates about how Alecta is doing, and we'll want to go back to the hospital for visiting hours. We're running on fumes. Morgan, recliner or couch?"

"I can take the chair."

"Alright. Hotch, extra blankets and pillows, where are they?"

"They are in the closet on the right just at the top of the hallway. Blankets are on the third shelf from the top….I had to move them down lower so Alecta could reach them, just in case. And the pillows are on the fourth shelf from the top."

"Very good. You go to bed.' Tossing a blanket and pillow at Morgan, 'And you grab some chair."

"Yes dad,' Both Hotch and Morgan responded in unison.

"Smart asses, the lot of you."

The other two men chuckled. Morgan began to get comfortable in the recliner, Rossi rode the couch. And Hotch made his way back down the hall heading for his bedroom. He still couldn't shake the feeling that he didn't want to be too far from Jack right now, so he made a quick stop to Jack's room and scooped the boy out of bed, placing him on Alecta's usual side of the bed. As he had come into his own bedroom and began pulling back the covers to put Jack down, he was relieved to see that Alecta had changed the sheets before all of this had gone down, apparently she had done a spot of cleaning up while the team was away….hopefully nothing too strenuous, the doctor had been quite clear to keep the stress levels low. But at the same time, after their romp the other night, Hotch had to admit, he loved Alecta's gift of forethought. He couldn't imagine putting Jack in this bed otherwise. After getting Jack rearranged in his bed, Hotch went to his bathroom to change into his pajamas and brush his teeth and wash his face. It had been a damned long day and the days weren't going to get any shorter, at least it didn't sound good for the near future.

Before James, the highwayman, had left he had made sure to make the three men understand not to allow any strangers into the apartment from that point on….at least not strangers that knocked on the door. He reasoned to them that if the strangers just appeared in front of them as he had, they were safe, nothing evil could make it past the symbols Alecta had put all over the apartment….and that's right about the time that he had told them about the holy water and garlic that had been rubbed all over the door jambs and window sills. He admitted that Alecta had worked very hard to ensure that that apartment was as safe as any holy ground he'd ever walked on. He did say that the efforts that she had taken would only hold the boogie man at bay for so long before it became dicey, but that with any luck it would last long enough for her to get out of the hospital. But the bottom line was, admit no strangers that knocked on the door. It didn't matter if it was the pizza delivery boy or if it was a man with a badge. If the person at the door wasn't someone that the men had seen a hundred times before, they weren't to be allowed in; and even if it was someone the men knew well, with them being profilers they were to use their powers of deduction to notice if there were any subtle differences or anything at all that seemed off with these people. James warned them that this was the way that the 'diplomat' worked. He would 'enlist' average everyday people….a librarian at your kids school, the mail man…..anyone was up for grabs. James also pointed out that Jack had been given that medallion of St. George, and that while it may not offer him 100% protection, it was enough to at least give the boy a head start in case he ever found himself in trouble with nobody around that he trusted to help him.

Nobody had realized it yet, but while the kids had been lying in the floor the night before watching 'Toy Story', Alecta had excused herself to go to the restroom. While she was gone she stopped by Jack's room and slipped a small bottle of holy water and a couple cloves of garlic into Jack and Henry's book bags, along with good luck amulets that she got off some old gypsies and some that came down to her from the Sultan. These boys were in danger because of their close proximity to her; she had to do what she could to keep them safe when she wasn't around. Also, she put a note in Jack's bag that told him that if he found himself, or himself and Henry, in the kind of trouble that made the hair on the back of his neck stand up, he was to grab Henry's hand and run for the nearest church they could find and go inside and sit in one of the pews and be very good boys.

But nobody had seen that note, or the garlic and the holy water for that matter, at this point. Alecta packed those things with the hopes that they would never need them.

Alecta had been placed in a private room after having been in the recovery unit for a couple of hours to monitor her after her surgery to remove the bullet and stitch her up. She was still unconscious, not having revived from being put under; that coupled with the shock of the initial injury, she wasn't expected to come around for quite a while. Immogene had been sitting with her all night. She had managed to conceal a handgun and two knives on her person, in case they ran into any further problems in the meantime. With their connection to Mac, a lot of things were allowed to slide.

The team had arrived back in Quantico around 4 a.m., they had arrived at the hospital by 5 a.m, and had sat around the hospital until nearly 9 a.m. At that time, Hotch had taken Jack and the girls back to his apartment with Rossi and Morgan. With James making an appearance it was nearly 2pm before Hotch, Rossi, Morgan, and the children were able to get any sleep. It was definitely an odd hour to go to bed, but for the team at least, it had been nearly 24 hours with no sleep at all. And the children had enough excitement for one day, it was an amazement that they had managed to stay awake and alert as long as they had.

At 8 p.m. Hotch woke up and made his way into his living room. Morgan and Rossi were already awake and had gotten themselves something to drink.

"Hotch, we're calling for pizza, that cool with you?"

"Yes, Morgan, that will be fine. It would have to be something the kids would eat when they get up at any rate."

Hotch flopped onto the sofa, resting his head on the back of it, looking at the ceiling.

"What's on your mind Aaron?"

"Nothing much Dave. Just trying to figure out what it is our girl has gotten us into. I just wish she would've told me what's going on with her."

"Perhaps she felt it was safer that you didn't know. Maybe she thought that this….diplomat was only after her and it would always stay that way. If that was the case she may have thought she could take care of this without you ever having to know about it. And this teacher, Mr. Dunbar, just pushed things to the breaking point."

Morgan had put in the call to the pizza place and 25 minutes later the pizza was delivered; Morgan paid and tipped the driver, making a few seconds of small talk. When the driver asked if he could come and set the pizza on the table, Morgan politely declined. He made some excuse about his Uncle was staying with him and was quite sick and that he didn't want the delivery man to catch it. He took the pizza from the delivery man and shut and locked the door, even locking the dead bolt, and setting the alarm with the code that Hotch called out to him.

Morgan went to grab some plates to begin digging in, about that time the twins and Jack came toddling down the hall.

"Wait, Agent Man, wait."

"What is it Emma?"

"Hang on, Sofie, do it."

Sofie leaned climbed up in the chair closest to her and made a motion with her hands that signaled for Morgan to pass one of the pizza boxes to her.

"What is she going to do?"

"Save you. Shhh."

Once the pizza box was in her possession, Sofie held her hand back with one hand and leaned over the pizza slightly, inhaling.

"Well, Sofie…" Emma was getting antsy.

Sofie took another whiff of the pizza. Before looking at her sister, 'Don't eat it."

"What's wrong? There's no anchovies if that's the problem."

"If only…." Sofie jumped down out of the chair. 'Don't eat it." She repeated cryptically.

"What is your sister's problem?"

Emma watched Sofie walk back down the hallway, towards their mother's little cave.

"She can smell death on things sometimes. It doesn't work all of the time; but when it does work, she's never wrong."

"What do you mean, she can smell death?"

Sofie by now was coming back down the hall; she had a card in her hands, 'Call this place, Mommy orders from them all the time. They won't be corrupted."

"What does Emma mean that you can smell death?"

"You know what a dead body smells like after some days right.' Seeing the men nod that they did indeed know. "Well, sometimes I can smell something or be around something and I can get that smell in my nose. If that happens it means that someone will die soon. Or in this case, with the pizza, you will die if you eat it; it reeks of dead body funk. Don't touch it, throw it out. And then in the morning, look outside and tell me what you see."

"Mr. Man warned you about people entering the apartment, I think."

Hotch looked at Emma, 'Well yes, but nobody has entered."

"I know. But, what Mr. Man failed to tell you is that it's 'Game On'. You came between the stranger and his goal of taking us away and trying to get to Mommy. Now he will do what he has to do to get you out of his way. All three of you. He isn't above taking over the person who runs the pizza place."

"What makes the one your Mommy knows so different?"

"It is run out of an old Catholic Church. The building was converted a lot of years ago. And the man that runs it is an old friend of Mommy. If the stranger tries to come after him, he will have to kill this pizza man before he is able to make him do bad things. And Mommy said that killing this pizza man isn't as easy as you think."

"What does she mean by that?"

"Dunno. Why don't you ask her when you go to see her?"

"Who is your Mommy's friend?"

Emma shrugged, 'She calls him Simon, said he used to be _very_ religious, had trained to be a priest, but left the Church. And now he still works in one." Emma giggled.

"Mommy's friends Sam and his brother Dean helped Mommy find Simon. She said she knew him from a long time ago, and that they were good friends, but that over the years they had moved around a lot and lost touch. Sam and Dean know a guy named Cas that knew them both from way back."

"Okay, but we just spent $30 on two pizzas that we now have to throw out."

"Stop worrying Pops. Simon won't even charge you for them."

"How does he make money on free pizzas?"

"Oh silly Mr. Agent Man. He only makes da free ones for us an' Mommy, on account of them being friends." Sophie's voice tinkled as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

This time Hotch got on the phone and called this Simon person and ordered the two pizzas saying that he'd received the business card that Alecta had given her daughters. Simon said he would deliver the pizzas himself, that he hadn't seen his dearest friend in a long time and would like to spend at least a moment seeing how she was doing. With that, Simon hung up before Hotch could explain that Alecta wasn't there.

Simon's pizzas were going to be there in about another 30 minutes or so; in the meantime Hotch had gone over the game plan with the girls and Jack. They were allowed to watch movies while they ate their pizza, after they could do as they pleased but with it being such an ungodly hour of night, they would be going back to bed before the crack of dawn.

"I want to be up early enough to take you to see your mother at the hospital."

"Ok, Mr. Aaron." Both girls replied.

"Yes, Daddy,' Jack had chimed in.

With the remaining time they had to wait on the pizzas to arrive, Rossi leaned over to ask the girls, 'Do you have any proof that your friend James…"

"You call him Mr. Man!" Sofie reprimanded.

"Excuse me. Do you have proof that _Mr. Man_ is who he claims to be?"

"Of. Course. We. Do. Come follow me into the cave. Mommy has a book. I show you it and you'll get over Mr. Man. M'k?"

Sofie and Emma began racing down the hall Jack hot on their heels and the three grown men behind him.

Once in her mother's cave, Sofie ran over to the desk…before she would get into the chair, she looked at it and said very quietly, 'Excuse me, please' and then hopped up in the chair.

"Smurf?"

"Y-e-s?" Sofie's voice was almost sing-song.

"Why did you say excuse me to an empty chair?"

Sofie looked at Derek as if he had two heads, 'Because you never know who is there, Mommy said it's good manners. Emmy, where you think she put the ledger?"

Sofie started rummaging through some of the drawers close at hand, coming up empty. 'Emmy, you're not helping."

Emma shrugged her little shoulders, throwing up her hands, 'Why I gotsta know everyfing?"

Sofie started smacking her own forehead with the palm of her hand, 'Think….Think…."

Emma giggled, ad began walking around the room, meandering really, looking through every little nook and cranny as she went; taking her time, letting her sister, Sofie stew in her own juices.

As she went around the room Emma began to say a poem….

"Fifteen men on the Dead Man's Chest, Drink and the devil had done for the rest  
The mate was fixed by the bos'n's pike, The bos'n brained with a marlin spike,  
And Cookey's throat was marked belike, It had been gripped By fingers ten;  
And there they lay, All good dead men, Like break-o'-day in a boozing-ken  
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!

Fifteen men of the whole ship's list Dead and be damned and the rest gone whist!  
The skipper lay with his nob in gore Where the scullion's axe his cheek had shore  
And the scullion he was stabbed times four. And there they lay, And the soggy skies  
Dripped all day long In upstaring eyes, In murk sunset and at foul sunrise  
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!

Fifteen men of 'em stiff and stark  
Ten of the crew had the Murder mark  
'Twas a cutlass swipe or an ounce of lead,  
Or a yawing hole in a battered head And the scuppers glut with a rotting red  
And there they lay, Aye, damn my eyes, All lookouts clapped On paradise All souls bound just contrariwise  
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum.

Fifteen men of 'em good and true Every man jack could ha' sailed with Old Pew  
There was chest on chest full of Spanish gold, With a ton of plate in the middle hold,  
And the cabins riot of stuff untold, And they lay there, That had took the plum,  
With sightless glare , And their lips struck dumb, While we shared all by the rule of thumb  
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!

More was seen through the stern light screen  
Chartings no doubt where a woman had been!  
A flimsy shift on a bunker cot, With a thin dirk slot through the bosom spot  
And the lace stiff dry in a purplish blot. Oh was she wench…Or some shuddering maid…?  
That dared the knife, And took the blade! By God! she was stuff for a plucky jade  
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!

Fifteen men on the Dead Man's Chest  
Drink and the devil had done for the rest  
We wrapped 'em all in a mains'l tight  
With twice ten turns of a hawser's bight  
And we heaved 'em over and out of sight  
With a Yo-Heave-Ho!  
And a fare-you-well!  
And a sullen plunge  
In the sullen swell,  
Ten fathoms deep on the road to hell!  
Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!"

As Emma finished her little poem, she had walked over to the front of the desk, grinning at her sister, and firmly kicked at the panel that was to the right of her; it helped form the right side of the desk, there was a panel on the left side as well, they made the desk look as though the ends of the desk were solid. But as Emma kicked at the right side panel, the front piece fell off, clattering to the floor.

Sofie jumped down and ran around the front of the desk, she threw herself at her sister, wrapping her pudgy little arms around Emma's neck, 'Emmy, you're the best!" the little girl squealed with delight as she saw the ledger in question.

"So I'm told." Emma looked as though she was checking her finger nails, unconcerned with all the excitement coming from Sofie.

Sofie dove to her knees and grabbed for the large ledger, it was a dusty old thing, and began pulling it out of the hidden compartment. "Emmy, help meh. It's too much."

"I gotsa do everyfing."

"Shut up and help already."

Eventually the two little girls together were able to pull the large book out of its hiding spot, then Sofie plopped back on her bottom, Emma sat down to one side of her, and together they turned through the book. Since it was taking longer than they thought, Sofie rearranged her position and laid in the floor on her stomach, swinging her feet behind her lazily.

"Nope, not it….not it….." Emma and Sofie would alternate, letting themselves and the others know if they had found the entry or not.

"Can you actually read _any_ of this?" Rossi looked down and asked the two girls.

"Yes, Mommy taught us the people's names. We don't know some of the big words, but we know how to read the names." Emma explained carefully.

Suddenly, everyone's attention was turned to Sofie as she squealed with happiness, 'Gots it….Emmy, I gots it. L-l-look it Pops, look i-i-it." Sofie was starting to stutter she was so excited that she had made the discovery.

_She even stutters like her mother…_Hotch thought quietly to himself.

"James Duffy. It says right here. He was executed in about August of 1590, if I'm reading this right. He was hung in some tree just out on the moors for his crimes as a highwayman."

"We have seen that twee. If you look out Mommy's bedroom window….at the house in Scotland….you can see it." Sofie chimed.

"That was how we first met Mr. Man. We were….I fink, what, 2 almost 3…Right Sofie?"

"Uh huh."

"We ran into Mommy's room to wake her up for breafast. And we were jumping on her bed to make her be awake. And we looked out the window. And…."

"There he was,'Sofie interrupted. "He was just swingin' in da twee. I as'ed Mommy who da man was in tree…"

"An' Mommy as'ed us what man we were talking about…'Emma gave her sister a dose of her own medicine. "And we pointed out the window…."

"All free of us ran to the windows…"Yet again, Sofie cut her sister off.

"They was the big window like in Tassles…."

"You mean castles, Emma?"

"That's what I said Mr. Aaron.' Emma sounded rather flabbergasted that he would correct her. 'An' we hadda climb up the step to get in the seat of the windows to see out them….."

"And there he was, Mr. Man….Hanging out. In our twee." Sofie was so animated sometimes….

"Mommy wasn't sure what we were seein' so she made us describe him so she would know. Then she got us all dressed….." Emma looked at Sofie in a funny way.

"An' she took us to the pub."

"Your mother had you in a pub?" Hotch questioned, carefully.

"Yes. Yes, yes she did." Sofie looked at him as if he had a hearing problem.

"Why?"

"Um. Well, for one thing, breafast. The pub had an inn wif it and they hadda make breafast for the people….."

"And 'sides,' Emma thought fondly, 'We hadda talk a Pops…."

"Oh, not you pops…..it's dis man…he's like 100….Mommy said he made Jesus' flip flops….don't know his name, but we always called him 'Pops'. He's got big ears, you can see the light through 'em….."

"Sofie! Be nice. Don't talk bad 'bout Pops…." Emma seemed very upset about this.

Sofie crawled on her hands and knees over to one of the book cases in the room, grabbing a photo album, flipping to the page she was looking for and pulled out a picture.

"Here, look it. It's Pops."

There was a picture of this sweet little old man, Scottish to the bone, with his rosy cheeks and his blue eyes, and mop of white hair. And his ears were huge. Rossi thought he looked a little like Alecta's friend, old Ollie from their visit to her hometown….a bit like Peter O'Toole.

"But _anyways_,' Emma said as she pinched her sister's arm, 'He told us the story of Mr. Man. And he made us promise ta be careful of another one like Mr. Man…..except this other one is bad. It tried to hurt Mommy. Mr. Man makes it go away. He 'tects us."

"Ow! Emmy! Why you pinched me?"

"Why you be mean about Pops?"

"I love Pops,' Sofie began to look saddened at the thought that Emma didn't believe her."I not trying to be ugly, I promise." When Sofie began to rub her eyes to hide the fact that tears were about to be shed, Emma hugged her tight and said that she was sorry she pinched her.

"So, you see, Mr. Aaron….You and the fellas gotta be nice to Mr. Man. Please, be nice to Mr. Man. Because he's for real."

About that time the doorbell rang. Hotch stood up and began making his way to the door, he thought for sure it was the pizza by now. He knew the kids were likely getting hungry even though neither one of them had said anything.

As he opened the door, Jack squealed with happiness.

"Lexa, you're home!"

Hotch raised his head to actually see who was at the door, having not been expecting this.

As sure as the world, Alecta was standing in front of him, being held up by Immogene and Pen.

"What the hell are you doing out of the hospital?"

"Good Sir, can we get her inside first, please?"

"Of course. What was I thinking?' Hotch stepped aside to let them pass. "She should still be in the hospital, you know that."

Pen chipped in her two cents, 'And she would be if there hadn't been certain events that forced us to make other arrangements."

"What….events?" Rossi asked as he came into the room.

"Please, we have to lie her down first. She's quite weak." Immogene demanded.

"Mommy!" Sofie and Emma squealed in unison.

"Girls, Mommy hurts real bad don't jump on her right now.' Immogene directed the children.

"Ooh! Sofie, go get the…' Emma started to tell her sister to move the ledger and things back to their places.

"Yep,' Sofie turned and ran at top speeds down the hallway to the cave to put everything back.

"Emmy, I need help."

"What have you two gotten into?" Immogene questioned.

"Uh….nuffin'." The little girl says as she follows her sister's lead and high tails it down the hall to help. The only thing that Sofie needed help with was replacing the hidden panel on the desk front, she couldn't quite get it right.

Seconds after they got the panel in place, Immogene and Pen brought Alecta into the room. Alecta had yet to speak; she was doing all she could do to stay conscious at the moment. The other two women laid her down on the day bed, after Pen took a moment to pull back some of the covers, and got her propped up on some pillows. Alecta was in agony. The bullet wound was aching like a son of a bitch. The stitches had been ruptured and it was bleeding again. The babies were having no mercy, kicking the crap out of her from the inside out. She had broken out in a cold, clammy sweat all over from the exertion of having to be removed from the hospital. She didn't look good at all.

"Where's everyone else?" Derek managed to ask.

"Kong is parking, Mac will be here in a minute. He had to swipe some supplies. Pen grab that cart over there. We'll need to set up the monitor on it."

"Look, someone better start talking." Hotch demanded.

Just at that moment the doorbell rang again. "Sonofabitch!" Hotch was becoming livid.

"I'll get it, you stay here with her. Sofie, come with me please." Rossi stated. He decided to take the little girl with him; if she detect the scent of decaying flesh on a pizza, she would be the best shot he had at figuring out who was at the door.

"M'k."

Rossi and the tot went to the door, Sofie squealed, 'Simon!"

"You little mite, how've you been?"

"Come see Mommy. I know she will want to see you. And Emmy, too."

Simon placed the pizza on the dining room table and followed Rossi and the little girl.

Upon entering the little room, he saw his friend lying back on the bed, looking like death warmed over. Immediately he ran to her side and stooped to his knees by the bedside, slightly shoving Immogene out of the way; Immogene just moved over, as if this action was to be expected.

"M'Lady who's done this thing?"

"He's dead,' Alecta replied weakly, blinking her eyes ever so slowly at her friend.

"And the girls ordered a pizza from me. Not that I mind, I have missed seeing my girls, but pray tell what in Heaven's name is going on?"

Sofie lowered her head and looked at him from under her thick lashes, 'Mr. Simon, m'ere. I show you it."

Taking Simon's large hand in her tiny one, Sofie lead the man to the kitchen, and pointed to the old pizza. "Smell of it.' She instructed him.

Simon leaned over slightly and took in the aroma of the pizza. He was expecting the smells of the various ingredients, but what he got instead was the smell of rotting flesh and decay….and something a little musty, like old books. That was stranger still.

Turning to the child, 'Thank you for calling me little one."

"Course, Mommy has taught us what to do for different things. Can you help Mommy?"

Soon Mac came up to the apartment, letting himself in, Kong right behind him…as well as the other young girls.

"Simon,' Mac stated as he entered the apartment. "Good to see you old man."

"Mac, it's been too long….or not long enough, depending on how you look at this."

"Too true, my friend."

Simon followed the men back to the room and helped them get set up. Pen had moved a rolling cart over to the head of the daybed. Mac, with Kong's help got the monitors set up. there was a monitor that would read her vitals and they placed a monitor on the desk that could take readings off of the babies to ensure that they were still alright.

Immogene started sorting through the supplies with Simon's help. There were bandages and gauze. There were several bottles of anti-septic….surgical scissors, scalpel, various other instruments that Mac thought he might need….most of which would help him sew Alecta's stitches shut.

"Mac, not that I'm complaining, but how many hospitals did you rob?"

Laughing, 'As many as it took."

"Where's momma? Rachel?" Alecta tried pushing herself up, realizing all too late that was the wrong move to make, and yelling in agony.

"You be still. They're at the church; we took them there with Sasha, Eva, and Oleg. They have their instructions. "Ivory spoke up from the door way.

Alecta merely nodded.

"I have to get these stitches shut if we have any hope of avoiding infection."

"I want to know why the hell she's even out of the hospital in the first place."

"Come with me Agent Hotchner, I will tell you what I can." Immogene lead the way out of the room. 'Girls, come." Sofie and Emma knew better than to argue with that tone and began to follow.

Part the way up the hall, Immogene turned to the children and asked them politely to go play in Jack's room, which Jack was totally ok with.

"Please, sit,' Immogene directed Hotch to one of his chairs in the living room.

Waiting for him to follow her order, 'Pen and I were on our shift in her room watching over her. After what you told us about….what happened in the stair well, we could take no chances. Pen was knitting, knowing that there will be two new additions she wanted to get a leg up on some of it. I was reading a book. But we were right there. Next thing we know the door flies open, three people come in; two men and one woman. The men turned on us, Pen and myself, grabbing us….trying their best to choke us. The woman's attention was on Alecta. She began to attack her….It took us some doin' but we got loose. In the meantime, we had noticed the stench of death on them, and the state of their clothes….drab, sort of rumpled looking…..and they had this cold stare. And if all these things were the worst of it, once I had gained some leeway on the man that was trying to do me in, I looked over at the one that Pen was dealing with and saw the marks on his neck. I still don't know just how the hell we got out that predicament. One minute they were there, we were fighting for our lives and Alectas….the next minute they were gone. Though I will say I saw a funny light in the room, can't explain it. It wasn't the lights from the room itself. But it was just there….and the closer we looked we saw another man standing there…..different from the others, better, but still….

As soon as the event was over, we called Mac and began to get the shit together to move her. We grabbed what supplies we could, that we knew we needed and got the hell out of that hospital. We didn't know quite where else to go…we thought perhaps the church, like Rachel and the kids. But that would leave us open to too many questions. So, here we are. Maybe not the smartest move, not with the little ones around, and if you need us too we can leave in the morning. But for tonight she needs to stay here."

"Um, where did you all find the monitors for some of this?" Derek asked apprehensively.

"Well, Mac was a Royal physician. He, at one time, was a personal physician to Prince Philip, consort to Queen Elizabeth II. He held that position for a number of years. And Alecta is one of Her Majesty's closest friends. With those connections, between the two of them, they can get pretty much what they damned well want."

"What caused him to leave his station?"

"As much as Mac enjoyed working with the Royal family, he wanted to strike out and try to do something…..more. He wanted to leave some sort of mark on the world. Something that, when he was gone, people could think back and remember him as an honorable and decent man….not that he wasn't already. But he felt there was so much more good he could do with his services. And when Alecta came up with the idea to form this organization, he jumped on the opportunity. They had known each other for years. She had been engaged to his brother, Alistair, briefly. She had every intention of marrying the boy….she loved him…but he died, in her arms. It was a long time before she ever felt ok about that."

"Why is…"

"No names, do not say it."

"Why is this strange diplomat coming after her now?"

"She says it goes back to a dare. Sometime around 20 years ago, she was in the midst of her studies abroad. Her friend Heather had gotten her on the right path with her education….Anyway, she was studying abroad. As part of her studies she decided to go to Romania and study some of the Gypsies that still call it home; it was some sort of Anthropology project. While in Romania, she was having a few drinks with friends and they began to discuss the cultural significance of our friend, the diplomat. After a few rounds of drinks this turned into a dare to spend a night in Poenari Castle, his home base. It was high on an impossibly steep hill in the middle of nowhere. The last time the surrounding area had been a village of any consequence was 250 years ago. It was in the middle of nowhere. It was haunted; at least that's the rumor. Alecta has rarely ever turned down a dare. So she went for it; she was not afraid. Even after she tried leaving and was purposely lead off of her route by….something. It would not let her leave.

She said she was stuck in the forest for three days with no food or water, except for a handful of berries that she knew were safe to eat…aside from the fact she hates most berries. On the third day, she was saved by an old Gypsy woman, just the sort of person she should have been studying at the time anyway.

She stayed with the old woman for several days, regaining her strength….the old lady cared for her carefully.

They became quite close. Alecta loves that old woman. She began calling her _the Grandmother_.

She seems to think that his fascination with her stems from that visit."

"What do you think?"

"Well, my 'Spidey' senses tell me there is way more to this story than she is saying. Our _friend_ wouldn't go through this much trouble for a trespasser. If anything he would likely have been amused at the idea that she was there on a dare. There _is _more than she is telling us….I know it as well as I know my own name."

The last few words were said slowly, as if Immogene was distracted; she was looking out through the window. The window was partially illuminated by a street light. Without even flinching, Immogene walked over to the window and opened it. The figure that had been peering in at the group tried to scramble away but for whatever reason wasn't quite fast enough. Not a moment's hesitation was wasted as Immogene dragged the figure in through the window and stabbed it with a silver stake that she had produced from behind her back under her jacket; the stake went straight through the heart of the figure.

Looking down, Hotch and Morgan both were astonished. Before them on the floor was the body of a woman they had known briefly. She had been one of Alecta's dearest friends. Theo had come back.

"Maybe now that bitch will stay dead." Immogene was heard to mumble as she leaned over the body and snatched the chain from around her neck that had contained talisman and the St. Agnes medallion that Theo had been given long ago.

**Post AN: So. How d'ya like them apples? Most people say that reviews keep them happy. I will tell the truth. I began writing FF mostly as a public service, it helps me vent. But I do appreciate any reviews that you want to send my way, by all means. Love ya peeps.**


	30. Chapter 30

**Chpt. 30**

"Mac, stitch faster old man, we got company. Simon, do what you do." With that being said she rummaged through the cabinet of wonders and pulled out some scrolls and tossed them to Simon who caught them; upon unrolling them he began to speak in a different language.

Alecta tried to laugh a little and only succeeded in coughing from the effort, 'Oh, Reid would love to be here right about now."

"Hush girl and let me work.' Mac placed a hand on her forehead and smoothed her hair out of the way. "Cossette, she's running a little warm, get wet towels or rags for her now."

"Of course." Cossette jumped up and ran with Ivory to the hall closet where Hotch indicated there were towels and linens.

"I'm almost finished with the stitches. But she's had it for one day. How's he coming on the 'voodoo' over there?"

Stopping his progress, 'Excuse me, Sir!"

"Less arguing and more of that thing you do my friend. Mac, stop antagonizing him."

"Ingrate." Simon mumbled at he went back to his work.

"Cossette, I need you and Ivory to stay with Mac. Anything he needs…."

"Of course."

"Wait. Where are Reid, JJ, and Emily; and Will and Henry for that matter?" Morgan asked with true concern in his voice.

"They went to JJ's house. For now, they are safe. Young Dr. Reid is more prepared than you think. But since I just staked the diplomat's little bitch, he may have figured things are too hot and will stay away."

"Last stitch going in…now. Ivory, get the jug."

"Wait, she's pregnant, you can't just get her liquored up."

"Agent Rossi, I can't give her just any old pain killers either, she's allergic to the ones she was given in the hospital, and some of the others would react poorly with the pregnancy if they worked at all. There's little else I can do for her. Trust me, one nip off this and she won't feel a thing."

"Stout is it?"

"Agent Rossi, this has its own vapor trail." Mac grinned, arching a brow at the older man. 'Drink this,' Mac put a small glass, much like a shot glass, not even full, to her lips, lifting her head to help her take a bit of the drink. "That's enough; don't want the little nuggets born with a taste for it."

Meanwhile, Simon walked over to the window in the room, stood in front of it, and sliced one of his palms open, using his finger to draw a bloody line around the frame of the window.

"Excuse me what are you…."

"Possibly saving your lives. Quiet. No further interruptions or this will not work."

Simon went about his work as Immogene, Hotch, Rossi, and Morgan left the room to get refreshments ready for everyone.

"Look, I know this is all strange for you. I don't blame you for being apprehensive. The first time I came across things like this it wigged me out as well. But in our work, we see all sorts of shit. Sometimes….the old ways work the best."

Mac came walking out of the cave, wiping his hands on a towel; Ivory and Cossette were tending to Alecta.

"So, we have to give her a couple hours to rest. That was cuttin' it close."

"Perhaps, but we need to talk about what to do if one of those damned things comes back after us again. We need to figure out where to go and how we are going to get there. There's only one true exit out of this apartment, and then we have the fire escapes. With her injuries….."

About that time there was some movement coming down the hall, and arguing.

"I'm not saying anythin', just that you should stay lying down for now…." Ivory could be heard arguing with Alecta. She was struggling to walk down the hall, her good arm draped around Simon's shoulder, he was doing his best to keep her steady.

"Two hours? Mac, it's like you don't even know me.' There was a wince and a little sound of agony as Simon sat her down. Simon had whispered something in her ear as he leaned down to help her get situated. The only thing the others in the room heard was her response of 'how very true'.

"You should get back in your bed girl. You'll pop them stitches again, and this time I'll let ya bleed." His Scottish brogue was getting thicker with his irritation.

"No. You won't. You'll zip me back shut again. It's not in your nature to leave it be; which leads me to my next issue. Let's worry less on how we will get out of here and focus a bit on where we will stay once we _do_ leave. I can go down the escape if there's no other choice to be had, but a tank of gas will last only so long. Speaking of which…..make sure that someone gets some surplus, don't want a 'Deliverance' situation when we are on the lamb ya know."

"Oh, some of our people have commandeered a gas station on the route to the airport, I think we're covered."

"Lovely."

"And by _a_ gas station, I meant 10."

"But of course."

"Why would anyone need to take over 10 gas stations?" Rossi asked clueless.

"There is route that will take us to Dulles; we have several different roads that we can take to get there. And there are five stations along that route down those roads should we need them. Then there is a second route that will take us to a privately owned airstrip. Again, we have multiple roads that we can use to get there if necessary, and the stations dotted along the path periodically…..

Rossi…..The kind of running that would need to be done, if it comes to that…It's not the time to run out of gas or supplies.

Speaking of which…"

"There is a tanker truck at each air strip ready for instructions." Cossette informed her.

"Very good. Now, where should we point the planes?"

"We could always go to London."

"I do love that city. But I won't bring this on her Majesty or my darling Prince Philip. No."

"We can go to Paris,' Cossette suggested. "Or well, one of the villages nearby."

"That idea has some merit. I have a few properties there that I haven't visited in a while. Cossette, go ahead and call the caretakers. Let them know to make ready. It's not 100% certain we will head in that direction, but I want things in order in case we do."

"Of course, mama." Cossette stepped over near the window and dialed.

"Wait. Cossette."

"Yes mama?"

"Not Paris. Lyon." Alecta said with a wink.

"Yes, Lyon!" Cossette hung up and began dialing a different number then.

"What is in Lyon?" Hotch asks.

"Well above all else, it is a town basically built on secret passageways. Those might come in handy. I'd go to Paris, but all they really have is the catacombs. Lovely as they are…..I have apartments and other properties in Paris, but if we were to go to one of them then we might end up having to relocate again. By going to Lyon….I have a friend that controls one of doors to the passageways. He knows the labyrinth inside and out. I know them quite well myself, but if we were to get separated both groups would need a guide."

"Well after Cossette makes her call, we need to head out. We'll be staying at the church, you know the one. "

"Of course. Immogene, thank you. "

"To the end." Immogene winked at Alecta.

"I'm going to stay with Alecta. I am needed more here than anywhere else." Simon declared.

"Thanks old man. I always tease you but you're alright." Mac shook his hand.

"That's alright. I let it go because I realize you were raised by wolves."

"Boys, please! There will be time for your pissing contest later." Alecta commanded.

"Sorry. I'm sorry m'lady." Both men said in unison.

Simon went to the door with the others as they got ready to leave. Alecta was too sore to keep getting up and down. However Hotch had noticed the weary look on her face. This whole scenario was weighing heavily on her conscience.

"Look. For tonight, we can put the inflatable mattress in Jack's room, and the girls can sleep in there. That way your friend Simon can have the bed in your office, if he chooses. That way he can be close to his work if needs be."

"That was a most excellent idea sir. I will be grateful for it." Simon tipped his head to Hotch.

"Rossi and Morgan were sleeping out here. You're with me."

"I was wondering about that." Alecta said with a smirk.

They got ready to bed back down; the children had managed to sneak a couple slices of pizza, so that was taken care of. They hadn't been up so terribly long, but a lot had happened, they were tired. And besides, Hotch knew that Alecta was going to have enough stress in her life over the next few days, she needed to get some rest of some sort.

Once they walked back down the hall, they stopped by Jack's room to set up the inflatable mattress and get the kids ready for bed. Then they made their way to Hotch's room to get themselves ready as well. Hotch walked into his room, Alecta stood at the door for a moment. She seemed unsure about things. There was nervousness to her posture.

"What is it?" Hotch asked, wondering what could make her suddenly so nervous.

"Rossi and Morgan are staying the night?"

"Yes. They came with me when I brought the kids back. After what happened in the hospital while you were still in surgery, neither one of us thought it was a good idea to be on our own."

"What happened?"

"Sofie and Emma…..they got up and started walking out of the waiting room and said they were going to go get some water from the fountain just up the hall from the waiting room. A couple of minutes had passed and they still hadn't come back yet, so I went looking for them. The others helped. Rossi and Morgan had followed me into the stairwell where I had thought they'd gone. When we got there, there was….your strange diplomat…."

"I see you've been warned."

"Yes. He was there, trying to get the girls to go with him. He kept telling them he'd take them to you or some story that he knew they'd believe. We stopped him…with a little help from a boy named Jesse." Hotch smiled about the boy.

"Ah yes. Dear, sweet, Jesse. Did you know, when he was alive….he rode his bike to school one day. He fell off the bike. The driver of the bus didn't see him, and drove over him. It crushed his little scull. His brothers and sisters held it together until their parents arrived at the school. As soon as they saw their father, they started crying. His mother never recovered. He was, I think, 7 or 8….about Jack's age when it happened."

Alecta stayed standing at the door way; still nervous.

"What is it?"

"Why are they staying?"

"Why does it bother you?"

He hadn't seen her look that nervous in days. He didn't care for it.

"It doesn't bother me." A blatant lie.

"Is that the story that you're going with? Would you rather they left and went home and something happen to them?"

"No! N-N-never." Her eyes looked sad at the thought; a tear actually started rolling down her cheek. "I wouldn't wish this on my worst enemy."

_Stuttering like Sofie._

"Then what is it?" Hotch asked quietly.

"Never mind; it doesn't mat…."

"Alecta….You can tell me. You should know that by now."

"Nightmares…..worse than the ones from before."

"Oh, girl, we've all had them…..comes with the job."

"Do you have nightmares about seeing…..'she cut herself off, not wanting to tell him about the nightmares. If she did she might leave herself open to a much longer discussion than she had the strength for tonight…..this morning…..whatever.

"Nightmares about what?"

"No. Just. No." She gave up and walked more fully into the bedroom. Hotch had won a small victory, but at what costs? She still looked nervous as hell, jittery. And he was left with the distinct impression that she might feel as though he had pushed her concerns to the side, as if they didn't matter. He didn't ever want her to feel like her problems didn't matter.

"Come here,' Hotch was sitting on the bed, leaning against the headboard, the covers were just down around the foot of the bed, or close to it. Alecta walked over to the bed and stopped.

She sort of growled at the bed a bit.

"What's wrong sweetheart?"

"Tall bed, pregnant belly. Can't just pole-vault in like I did before."

"Hang on, I think I might have something that can help. I'll be right back."

Hotch jumped up and ran to the kitchen. There was a small utility closet off of the kitchen and opened the door and rummaged around until he found what he was looking for. It was a step stool that he let Jack use a few times to help him put away dishes. Hotch had to chuckle as he grabbed the stool and began to make his way back to his bedroom.

Rossi had been just lying on the sofa, not really asleep; really he was reading a bit, and heard the commotion as Hotch had looked through the closet.

"Aaron, what's going on?"

"Alecta was having trouble climbing into bed. And since she's the independent sort…." He waved the stool at Rossi.

"Isn't that Jack's stool?" Seeing Hotch nod in the affirmative, Rossi started laughing. "I've got to see this."

"No you don't; she's already upset about the two of you staying here."

"Why?" Rossi sounded almost hurt.

"Not for why you think. She's just concerned about her nightmares being so bad, that's all."

"Hogwash. Let me come in and talk to her for a second."

"I don't know if that's…." Hotch trailed off the end of the sentence. Rossi had stopped listening anyway and continued to walk into the bedroom.

By the time Rossi got there Alecta had given in and was sitting in the chair in the corner; she was curled sideways, her head resting on her arms that were crossed on the arm of the chair. At first Rossi thought she had dozed off, until he saw her shoulders shaking slightly.

"What's wrong doll face?" Rossi got down on one knee in front of the chair.

Alecta looked up at him, wiping the tears off of her cheeks.

"It's nothing. It'll be alright."

"Try again."

Alecta looked out of the window, thinking. Then she looked back at Rossi, her eyes weren't weary, but they did contain a deeply troubled look.

"He knows I hate this waiting."

"Who knows?"

"Santa." Alecta looked at Rossi unbelieving that he had asked that dumb of a question. "He knows I can't stand waiting. He can pick off any one of you at any time. It could be you or one of the kids or Pen….hell if the mood strikes him he could go after Kevin or Mama. I never know who he will take next until it's happened. You don't know what he's like….not really. You've heard the stories I know that you have. But until you've been stuck in the middle of this you have no idea what it's like.

Reading and hearing the stories….people sit back and say 'oh, how horrible it must have been'. They don't know a thing about the waiting to see what will happen next. The nightmares that I have about the last time we met each other in battle."

"When was that?"

"Trust me when I say that you wouldn't believe me if I told you. Matter of fact, if I were to tell you, the first thing you would be doing after receiving the information is calling my old sanitarium."

"Try me."

"Forgive me if I don't. I enjoy my freedom."

"Lex, you know me better than that."

Alecta looked up and saw Hotch standing there. Taking a deep breath, she stood and placed a hand in the middle of his chest and began shoving him out of his bedroom.

"What the hell?"

"Sorry love, but if I am to get any peace, I have to do this." With that she shut the door in Hotch's face and turned back to begin speaking to Rossi.

"In my own home, too." She heard coming from outside the door.

Opening the door she tossed a pillow and blanket at Hotch who barely had time to catch them.

"Get comfortable, this could take a while." Before she shut the door this time, she popped up on her tip toes and gave Aaron a quick kiss on the cheek and a mischievous smile.

**AN: Ok, so that seemed like a decent cut off point for this chapter. I was sort of getting tired of it anyway. I hate to say that about one of my own chapters, but the truth hurts. Anyways, next chapter we will get to see what she tells Rossi, at least a bit. I keep wanting to hurry up and get to the good parts….but the harder I try the longer it takes. Grrrr. Love ya peeps. **


	31. Chapter 31

**Chpt 31**

"**How to Commit the Perfect Murder" was an old game in heaven. I always chose the icicle: the weapon melts away." (Alice Sebold, The Lovely Bones)**

"**I want you to believe...to believe in things that you cannot." (Bram Stoker, Dracula)**

"**Oh, my dear, if you only knew how strange is the matter regarding which I am here, it is you who would laugh. I have learned not to think little of any one's belief, no matter how strange it may be. I have tried to keep an open mind, and it is not the ordinary things of life that could close it, but the strange things, the extraordinary things, the things that make one doubt if they be mad or sane." (Bram Stoker, Dracula)**

"**The last I saw of Count Dracula was his kissing his hand to me, with a red light of triumph in his eyes, and with a smile that Judas in hell might be proud of." (Bram Stoker, Dracula)**

"**He means to succeed, and a man who has centuries before him can afford to wait and to go slow." (Bram Stoker, Dracula)**

"**The warlike days are over. Blood is too precious a thing in these days of dishonorable peace; and the glories of the great races are as a tale that is told." (Bram Stoker, Dracula)**

"**Don't you see? I'm not the spirit of any age. I'm at odds with everything and always have been! I have never belonged anywhere with anyone at any time!" (Anne Rice, Interview with the Vampire)**

"**I know nothing of god or the devil and after 400 years... This is the only real evil left..." (Anne Rice, Interview with the Vampire)**

"I believe the story starts….In the year of our Lord, 1476….No, I dunno. At any rate….By the winter of 1476, His Gloriousness, Sultan Mehmed II had been battling our evil prince for the best part of 20 years. His men were tired; they were decimated nearly to the point of desperation. The Janissaries, that was the elite corps of soldiers for the Sultan, they never gave up. But after 20 years of germ warfare and night time raids against their camps, their numbers were dwindling.

A young woman was sent away from her homeland and her people to ride straight into the heart of the battle and deliver the kill shot. The evil prince had gotten too close to taking the life of the Sultan.

I'm not taking sides. Both men did some things right, but they both also did a lot of bad things. In war, it's all a matter of perspective.

I rode through the frigid mountains of Romania until I got to the place. The battle was bloody and the Prince was fighting as hard as any of his men. The Sultan and his men were just as unforgiving. As I rode onto the battlefield I could scarcely believe this was the same young Prince that I had known years before. He had been a boy, no older that Jack or Henry the first time I met him. He was a bright boy, a good boy at heart.

I didn't want to execute the boy I had known, but I had no choice. He had grown too _evil_; the boss wouldn't stand for it any longer. I had tried on so many occasions to intervene and stop everything. I had tried talking to the boy Prince, to stop him from going down this road. He would listen to none of it. He thought because of his current powerful position and that he was so unrelenting that he could cheat death forever.

The final orders came and, although it was difficult for me to accept them, I had no choice; the writing was on the wall. The boy would not listen to reason and wouldn't stop the killing.

So, I rode out onto the battle field, found my princely target nearly immediately. I swung my sword, nearly cleaving his head completely from his body in one swing. I thought to make it a clean death, but it was not to happen that way. He fell to the ground, suffering; perhaps it was what he deserved after all the things he'd done over the years. Some would say so.

I dismounted; one of the Sultan's men was following me. I finished my bloody work and he quickly took the head placing it in a sack and got back on his horse. The Sultan himself was back in his capitol, Constantinople. The rider carried the head all the way back to him. The Sultan only kept it for a few short years, even then keeping it hidden from sight. Although the Sultan respected the Prince for his intelligence, he also feared him for his depravity."

"Nice story, what book did you get that from?"

Alecta raised her right hand and smacked her forehead with it, 'Are you serious?"

"What are you trying to tell me?"

"Rossi! _**I**_ am the young woman that executed the bastard….."

"You mean like, in a past life?"

"If only. No old man, not a past life…..well not exactly. One second…." She went to the bedroom door and opened it, peeking out into the hall to make sure they were truly alone. Luckily she saw that Hotch was sacked out on the couch. Just for one hot second she felt about two inches tall for keeping this from him…but she had to keep him in the dark for his and Jack's safety. And besides, what if she did tell him and he turned against her? Where would she be then?

Coming back into the room and shutting the door, 'It wasn't exactly a past life. It's hard to explain, God knows is it ever hard to explain. For now, please, just trust me. Please believe me when I tell you what happened. I will try to explain things in full, later. I haven't even told Hotch yet. Reid knows some of it; it's the secret he was trying to protect earlier. I don't think I should tell anyone else the rest of the story until I have at least explained it to Hotch…..of if we are all together."

"If this was anybody but you, I'd never agree to this."

"Thank you,' Alecta said it with such gratitude and relief, hugging Rossi to her tightly, kissing his cheek, that he had no choice but to believe her. "I just need some time. I want to tell you all everything."

Rossi agreed to give her as much time as he could. When he left the room, she seemed a lot calmer than she had before. Rossi had figured for himself that the _diplomat_ was after her now for the whole execution thing. Going out into the living room, Rossi had woken Hotch up and told him it was safe to go back into his own room.

When Hotch woke up and stumbled back into his room, Alecta was sitting on the bed, leaning back against the headboard. She held her arms out to him and he fairly well collapsed into them, resting his head against her chest, falling back asleep nearly immediately. Alecta only kissed the top of his head and ruffled his hair a bit as she sank down into the bed and pulled the covers over them for the night. Once in a more relaxed position, she wrapped her arms around him, and his reflexively wrapped around her. He was nearly holding onto her too tightly, but she didn't complain. She knew he was afraid that he would wake up and she would be gone; and quite frankly, she was terrified of the same thing.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

As it turned out, the next few days had passed quietly enough. The team was back at work. Hotch had been a real bear about that. He hadn't wanted to leave Alecta and the girls, not with everything that was going on. But there was nothing to be done for it. And besides, she had reasoned with him that the apartment was one of the safest places in the city for them at that moment; and she had promised him that if she had to leave for anything at all, she would be sure to take Simon with her.

Simon had stayed with them, refusing to leave. He knew they would need an extra pair of eyes, especially after everyone went back to work.

Alecta was left at home, on medical leave because of her advanced pregnancy and the fact that life had been nothing but more stress piled on top of what was already there. Her blood pressure had been sketchy at best; she was prone to dizzy spells because of it. Sofie and Emma had been especially good for their mother; it's like they understood perfectly what was wrong. They spent a lot of time with their older siblings during the day; it was a way of the kids working on the bonds between them all….there were six of them, they needed to get to know each other. Jack even took to spending more time with the older kids. And on top of that, Sofie and Emma started getting invited over to Aunt Jessica's….especially after Jack refused to go over there unless they came with him.

Yes, the days had been quiet, almost blissfully so. Alecta was still waiting for the other shoe to drop….it always did. She knew it was only a matter of time before that evil man came after her or the people she cared about. But at least for the moment she could relax and take a deep breath. She chose to put her worries on the back burner for one moment in time and just enjoy the peace and quiet with the people around her.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Tuesday, one of the most boring days in the office. Morgan had been sitting in his chair, at his desk, counting the holes in the ceiling tiles, wishing his paperwork would magically float over to Reid's desk…or Prentiss' desk, he wasn't picky. He would rather be able to jump up and go out to lunch with Pen…..and not clock back in for the rest of the day. They'd had some in house fun last night….lots of fun. Damned alarm clock blaring at 6 AM, there should be rules about that…..

Prentiss was on the phone with one of the local precincts giving a phone consultation about a case they were working on. Reid was blitzing through his paperwork without too much of a care in the world. Rossi was fixing his 3rd cup of coffee….more than anything the walk down to the break room was to stave off the boredom. JJ was pouring through her case files, trying to see if there was any particular case of urgency while talking on the phone to her husband and young son. Hotch was in a meeting with Strauss and the deputy director. Apparently they were signing off on the case where Alecta had killed Jack's teacher.

No charges would be brought against Alecta. It was classified as a justified kill. That man had broken into Hotch's home, Alecta did what she had to do to protect the children. It didn't keep Hotch from being superlatively angry though.

Alecta came into the office, Simon two steps behind her as always; she was carrying a container full of sandwiches that she had made, a smaller container of some cookies on top of that one. Simon had a back slung over his shoulder. They came into the bull-pen. Alecta's pregnant belly had caught up nicely….and she did look a bit like a beached whale if everyone had to be honest….even thought that is the last thing you would dare say to a pregnant woman. She practically waddled when she walked. And trying to carry that container with the sandwiches….Simon kept a hand at her back to make sure she didn't tip over backwards if she came to a too sudden stop.

Morgan, Prentiss, Reid, JJ, Pen….They all started digging in. Everyone chatting over how darn good the sandwiches were.

"Yeah, well the cookies are store bought…..I'm not much of a baker. But they're Danish Butter Cookies."

"These things are better than sex,' Emily chimed in.

"Yes they are." Alecta agreed.

About this time, Hotch was coming down the steps into the bull-pen….grim faced as ever. It was the 'Hotch' face.

Alecta kissed him on the cheek; he just sort of pulled out of reach just as the kiss landed on its mark. She looked up at him funny.

"Oh, sorry, forgot about office politics."

"This has nothing to do with the frat rules and office politics."

"Then what?" Alecta looked at him sincerely confused.

"This Dunbar case. Murder. Really? God, Alecta….sometimes it's seems like you're no better than the UNSUBS we hunt. You're just lucky that there weren't any charges brought against yo…."

The end of the sentence never came.

Alecta raised her left hand and slapped Hotch so hard on his left cheek that the sound of it caused agents all over the BAU to stop in their tracks and look up from their work to see what happened. Mouths dropped open. Eyes bugged out of sockets…..Agent Davis had just slapped the absolute dog shit out of SSA Aaron Hotchner…it was hard enough he rocked backwards on his feet. Had Rossi not been there to catch him, he would likely have toppled over.

"I'm no better than your _UNSUBS_?! Fine! Simon….the bag. Well since poor, dear departed Mr. Dunbar was such a pillar of the community, perhaps you would like to see what the lovely man was up to. You really want to know why he was in my cross hairs? You want to know why Jack came to me and told me about his concerns about Mr. Dunbar?" She reached into the bag and grabbed some of the DVD's, tossing them at Hotch, they made a clattering sound in their cases as they hit his chest and then the floor.

"No better than one of your UNSUBS….." tears started to pour from her eyes. "I saved your son's life, and this is the thanks I get. _**YOU'RE WELCOME!**_"

With that Alecta turned and stormed out of the BAU with Simon hot on her heels. Hotch wanted to run after her, but Rossi grabbed his arm….

"Think of your health Aaron. Right now, it might not be the smartest idea to get too close to her. Give her time to cool off."

"I don't know…."

"Please, at least a couple of hours….that's all."

Aaron finally nodded and conceded that what Rossi was saying made some sense.

Over the next two hours JJ had gotten back to her office and back into sifting through the case load, with Pen's help, and they had dug up another case. They were heading out to Washington State. They had a meeting in the conference room and discussed the major points of the case before Hotch gave the notice that they were wheels up in 30 minutes.

Everyone grabbed their go bags and began making their way to the garage to jump into the SUVs that would take them to the airstrip. Rossi would be driving one with Hotch and JJ riding with him. Morgan, Prentiss, and Reid would be a separate one.

Before they even reached the air strip, Hotch had tried to call Alecta eight times, getting no answer. He was trying to let her know what had happened. He knew he could just leave a voice mail, but he wanted to hear her voice, he wanted to actually speak to her and at least pretend like there was nothing whatsoever wrong and that he could apologize for what he said.

Eventually, as he got onto the plane, he made one last attempt to call her. This time the phone didn't even ring. She had turned it off. Oh, she was mortally pissed at him if she turned it off.

'_What have I done?'_ Hotch was left to wonder to himself as the plane took off.

**Post AN: Holy Crap! This chapter just basically fell out. Hope it was worth it, that it was at least up to my usual par. Lemme know what ya think.**


	32. Chapter 32

**Chpt. 32**

"**All I can think about is what she must be doing, and how I wish she were still here." (Pittacus Lore, I Am Number Four)**

"**Things come apart so easily when they have been held together with lies." (Dorothy Allison, Bastard Out of Carolina)**

"**When we are tired, we are attacked by ideas we conquered long ago." (Friedrich Nietzsche)**

"**Your past is always your past. Even if you forget it, it remembers you." (Sarah Dessen, What Happened to Goodbye)**

"**My past is everything I failed to be." (Fernando Pessoa, The Book of Disquiet)**

Alecta made her way back into Hotch's apartment, furious. Simon had walked in ahead of her, checking to make sure everything was still ok. Not sensing any trouble, he let her go farther into the living room.

Alecta pushed past Simon making her way to the bedroom that she had been sharing with Hotch for a few short weeks, she didn't even give herself time to look around; she quickly went to the closet and began grabbing clothes. Simon grabbed suitcases, Alecta wasn't even sure where he got them from; if they were hers or Hotch's….she didn't care. She just wanted to leave.

Sure she had been insulted before, by plenty of people. But this was different. Those other people never claimed to love her. Those other people hadn't become close to her kids.

"Oh! Just when I was starting to believe him. That….." Simon began to back away and step out into the hall. He knew from experience that when she became lost for words she usually started throwing things.

"Don't worry Simon; I'm not throwing things today. This isn't my home. These aren't my things. Besides, I shoulda known better. I won't blame him for this. This is my fault. I was the one that fell for the lies. That's not his fault. Call Mac, I need his help."

"As you wish."

Simon went into the other room to make the call; Mac showed up about 15 minutes later.

"What do you need love?"

Alecta came into the room with her satchel, slinging it down beside the door.

"Get this fucking chip out of my neck."

"Might I ask why? You're supposed to have one implanted when you join the group. Taking one out…."

"Look, I'm splittin'. I can't stay here. It's time for me to go on about my life and do my own thing."

"But you just got your position with the Bureau."

"Yeah, and look how much trouble I've been in since."

"Look how much trouble you've been in without them."

"Just take the damned chip out of my neck. PLEASE! I don't want him being able to go to Garcia and track me down. If he wants to find me, he's going to have to work for it."

"What about the kids, ya leaving them, too?"

"Hardly. I am going to ask Rachel and the others if they would like to come along for the adventure this time. Although, I should have a lobotomy for it. Are you taking this chip out today or do I have to do it myself?"

"Sit down and quit your bitching."

Alecta sat down in one of the dining room chairs, and tilted her head to the side.

"Do you want anything for the pain?"

"I have birthed six babies; I have been shot, stabbed, carved on, branded, and tattooed. Cut the damn chip out already."

"So bossy….tsk"

Mac made quick work of removing the tracking device; it only required a small incision, before simply using some 'butterfly' bandaging to close the wound off.

"What do you want me to do with it?"

"Give it to me." Alecta took the chip from Mac, she grabbed a shot glass out of the cabinet, dropping the device into the shot glass, and setting the glass down on the peninsula countertop.

"Now, I need you to go over to Rachel's, let her know that we're leaving. She can stay or go, whichever she prefers…..she's a grown woman now, she has to be free to decide for herself, though I must admit, if it was my choice, I'd have her with me. We've talked over the last few days about a lot of what's going on, so she knows. The two of you can start carrying the luggage down if you will; I'm going to grab a few things from the cave that I don't want to leave behind….the rest can be sent for later."

"Yes ma'am. Simon, after you."

"Thank you." The men did as they were instructed. Alecta ran to the cave and started to pack up most of what she could carry. She took a second to sit behind the desk and yank out a piece of paper to write Hotch a note. He didn't even really deserve one, but Alecta just couldn't stop herself. She tried to keep it short.

Before signing she left a few last lines, they were quotes. The first one was from the book, Bastard Out of Carolina….it was a book that Alecta had read hundreds of times; she knew it by heart. The other was from a book titled, 'Club Dead' by Charlaine Harris. They summed up quite well what she was thinking and they took the place of the words that Alecta could not find on her own.

"…..**'Things come apart so easily when they have been held together with lies.'** _You know like when you started telling me you loved me. If you didn't really mean it, then you should have kept it to yourself. I guess I am more upset and angry with myself than I am with you. It's not your fault I fell for it all again. _**'The sweetest part of being a couple is sharing your life with someone else. But my life, evidently, had not been good enough to share.'** _Since I'm no better to you than one of your UNSUBS, I've decided to be on my way. I'll mail my letter of resignation if I must. I will tell you nothing of where I will go outside of the fact that I am going to Ireland to bury my friends. They have been waiting patiently for burial while our lives have moved on. I will attend to them finally. But beyond that, I don't feel as though you have any rights to know where I will be going or what I will be doing. The kids are coming with me…all of them. I'm taking my clothes with me and some things out of my cave. If it isn't too much trouble, box up the rest and set it by the door; I will send for it later….."_

She didn't even have to sign it. Who else was he sleeping with that would write a 'Dear John' letter. Besides, what name would she sign to the bottom? Alecta, Anat…there were so many to choose from. She left the note on the counter by the tracking device.

"Are you ready love?" Mac asked.

"Yeah,' her voice wavered slightly as she answered. But then she turned around and made her way to the door. She grabbed a couple of light weight items that Mac and Simon allowed her to carry. Kong met them outside and then proceeded to go into the apartment and grab the rest of the items that she had indicated she wanted to have come with her.

On their way out of town they stopped by Rachel's place. She explained to Rachel that she was leaving town to go bury her friends.

"And I suppose we can go to Russia for few days to let Sasha, Eva, and Oleg see that side of their family. They haven't been there since they were infants. And Yuri's parents are both quite old. I want the kids to know them before it's too late. I may swing through Romania while I'm on my travels to pay my respects to my old Gypsy friend. I want to go at any rate; it really depends on what happens.

The reason I am telling you this is because I would like for you to join me. I mean I know that it's short notice and all. You're free to come back here whenever you chose. The decision is yours."

"Well yes, it is short notice, mom. I can make the trip to Ireland, but I can meet up with you in Russia. That would give me time to arrange time off from work. And it has been a while since I was last there anyway."

"Very well, whatever works best for you. Call Mac whenever you are ready to make the arrangements and we will have your transportation taken care of. Now, I have to get going. I'll see you….what….next week possibly? And look after mom for me, check in on her from time to time. I'll be calling her to let her know what's up so she doesn't worry that much. I may invite her along.

"Yes. You have a safe trip alright. Try to stay out of trouble."

Alecta only winked and smiled as she turned to leave.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

The case had taken an entire week and a half to solve. Once they got the geographical profile down, the UNSUB would change on them. And then if they got victimology figured out, the UNSUB would change details about that. It turned out the killer was one of the sheriff deputies that were assigned to assist on the case. That's how he was able to know so many details and change things up if he thought the profilers were getting too close. Never mind the fact that Hotch was barely able to concentrate worth a damn. Everybody on the team knew why. He was damn near rude to the local law enforcement agency….something that was totally unlike him. He could be frank and to the point, but he was rarely ever just rude.

After one particularly bad day where Hotch spent the better part of an hour in a screaming match with the sheriff, Rossi got between them before punches could be thrown; he told Aaron to step down from his supervising position for the rest of the case; Rossi would take over those duties. Rossi wasn't sure how good the sheriff was at self-defense, but he knew for a fact that Hotch had beat a man to death with his bare hands once. Rossi wasn't willing to chance it this time.

For the better part of the week, Hotch had tried calling Alecta on her cell again….several times a day. He got nowhere with it. She wasn't answering; the phone had remained turned off. One day he called and all he got in return was a message stating that service to that phone had been terminated.

They were on the jet on their way home finally. Garcia had come with them on this case, so he turned to where he could see Garcia sitting with JJ and Reid and Morgan and asked her if she could do her thing and try to track Alecta.

"Sir, judging by the readings that I am getting…..it looks like she is still at your apartment. Perhaps it isn't as bad as you think and she's waiting for you to come home so you can sit down and discuss this like adults."

"I doubt it. I was hateful to her before we left."

Hotch turned back to what he was doing, and just shut his eyes, to try to clear his mind of everything. He had to find a way to relax before they got all the way back to Quantico, in case she was still there and they did get the chance to speak. He wanted to have a clearer frame of mind. And if she wasn't still there, he had to have a clear mind to think of what to do next.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Once they landed back in Quantico, Hotch was the first one off of the plane, grabbing his gear and taking off. He told the team that if they went ahead and dealt with the paper work tonight they could have the next three days off, barring anything serious.

Everyone made their way into the Hoover building, each going to their own office or desk. Hotch had just gotten settled behind his desk, opening up the first file he was going to work on, when there was a knock at his office door.

"Come in."

"Hotch, what are you doing?"

"Um, paper work."

"I can handle your stack, go home. I know you want to know if she's there and, if so, you want to discuss what happened."

"Dave…."

"Go. Call me and let me know how it goes….or don't. I suppose it depends on how lucky you get."

"Dave, I called her a murderer. I don't think she's gonna be in the mood. Do you?"

"You'll never know if you don't pack your shit and go home."

"Alright, I'm going."

Reid, Prentiss, and Morgan looked up from where they were sitting in the bull-pen; Morgan was trying to barter with Reid to do his paper work for him so he could go home to Penelope….and Reid was holding out on him. They watched Hotch rush past them and head for the elevators.

"Man, I hope for his sake she's still home."

Prentiss looked over to Morgan, 'Me too, but I doubt she stuck around long after she left the office that day."

Pen had walked up to the little clique, 'Poor boss man."

"I thought you had gone home baby."

"No such luck hot stuff. I had a few programs to run…..but I'll be done soon, so stop harassing poor Reid and finish your paper work."

Reid chuckled, 'Busted."

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Hotch made it home in record time. He had stopped short of using lights and sirens. He didn't want to hear about it later if the news somehow made it back to Strauss, he had enough shit going on right now; he didn't want to have to deal with her as well.

He had never had an elevator ride last this damn long; this thing couldn't have moved fast enough if it had been rocketing to the moon. Then when he got out of the elevator to the door of his apartment, he dropped his house keys as he took them out of his pocket to unlock his door. Life was conspiring against him. The harder he tried to hurry up and get in there, it seemed he took two steps back. He should have known when the lights kept trying to catch him that he wasn't going to have an easy time of it.

Finally getting the keys to cooperate, he got the door unlocked and went in quickly. As rushed as he was, he had not forgotten his current life situation. He shut and locked the door, setting the alarm.

He went running through the apartment, checking room by room. Alecta was nowhere to be found. He began to freak out. There was a knock at the door. Hotch froze in the living room, staring at the door. Nobody knew he was home already, with the exception of his teammates; unless it was somebody looking for one of his neighbors.

Thinking back over the last couple of weeks with Alecta he knew better than to just open the door. He stood there and stared at it a moment longer. The bell rang and the person on the other side knocked again.

When Hotch didn't go straight away to answer it, 'Delivery. Chinese food order for Aaron Hotchner."

Hotch looked over at the dining room table and saw a box of some things that had been in Alecta's cave. On top of the pile was a huge silver cross, the bottom end of which was sharpened to a point; it looked more like a cleverly disguised dagger. He knew he hadn't ordered any food on his way home, definitely not Chinese…..today was Thursday; he never did Chinese on Thursdays. And when he did order Chinese delivery, it was almost always the same delivery person…..Wong. This didn't sound like Wong.

Grabbing the cross in his hand, holding it, ready to strike if he must he went to the door, cracking it open, leaving the chain across the gap.

"You've got the wrong apartment."

"You Aaron Hotchner? This apartment 121?"

"It's apartment 121, correct. And I am Aaron Hotchner. But I ordered NO delivery of any kind. So you need to leave." Hotch had stayed close to the door, keeping it from opening any farther with his weight. His right hand was behind his back with a bottle of holy water hidden from the person's view.

"But I have this delivery, if you just let me in I can set it down and be on my way."

Something seemed very off about this person. The hairs on the back of Hotch's neck wouldn't lay back down. _Great, now she has me as paranoid as a conspiracy theorist. Awesome._

"Leave now! I already have the authorities on the way."

"No, you don't _Aaron_. No you don't."

That was the last straw, this person was creeping him out and he was a supervisory special agent within the FBI's BAU. He study serial killers and their crimes for a living. And _HE _was getting freaked out.

Taking a step back, he got the holy water ready and shook some in the face of the person at his door….the cross/dagger in his left hand, ready.

The person on the other side of the door fairly well hissed at the holy water; when Hotch looked back at the face staring at him from the other side of the door, it looked like half the face had nearly melted away because of the holy water. Hotch quickly shut the door and locked the dead bolts. He backed away, not knowing what to do.

"I've got this." Hotch jumped when he heard a voice sound from his right side. Turning his head slowly, not sure what he would find, Hotch spotted Simon.

"Where did you…."

"Shhh. Not now."

Simon stepped to the door and began speaking in a language that Hotch could not understand. Then the man opened the door all the way, reached out and stabbed at the being on the other side…..got him right in the heart, then slammed the door shut. Hotch could hear sounds of agony coming from the 'person' out in the hall as it sounded like they were dying.

Simon put his dagger down, wiping his hands together as if to brush dust from them.

"Bastard. I told him to stay away from you."

"How…..where…."

"You thought I would have left with Alecta?" Pausing, Simon saw the look on Hotch's face. "Trust me, I would have. But she gave me an order to stay with you for the time being. _I_ wanted to leave you to fend for yourself; after the way you treated her. But, even as angry as she is with you, she could not leave you unprotected. And, after all she has done for me…."

"How long have you known her? I've met a few of her old friends, some I know more about than others."

"How long have we known each other?' Simon thought for a second, then smiled ruefully, 'it seems like forever."

With that Simon walked over to the sofa and sat down. "Would you like something to eat? I know you don't do Chinese on Thursday. Can't say that I blame you there. It doesn't taste right on Thursdays."

Hotch walked over to his sofa and sat down, looking at the coffee table, he saw a spread of a few little Mediterranean snacks. There was some humus with some pita bread. There were actually a few falafel balls, with a side of some tzatziki sauce on the side. There were a couple other things there that Hotch couldn't readily identify.

"Sit, eat."

"Where did you get all of this so suddenly? It wasn't here when I first got home."

"Um, why so many questions? You're hungry, eat."

Hotch jumped off of the sofa and went to the kitchen to get a drink, 'Do you want anything?"

"Yes. Some of the tea she made, if you don't mind."

Hotch came back with the drinks and sat back down, digging in to the spread before him. He was quite hungry. He hadn't realized how hungry he was under all the stress he had the last week or so. Now the hunger was rearing its ugly head.

After they had eaten a little while and Hotch could think clearly again, Simon stood up from the sofa. He walked across the room, lifting that damned bag from its resting place on the floor near the TV.

"Do you want to know what our Good Mr. Dunbar was up to exactly?"

"What are you talking about?"

"Well, this is evidence of what he was doing. He recorded it all. There are even a few VHS tapes of this. From what I am to understand, that should give you some idea about how long he had been doing these things. I know you have likely not watched any of them. I think that you should. You might understand why Alecta acted as she did."

Without even waiting for Hotch to say yes or now, Simon got out one of the DVD's and popped it into the player. After a moment the image cleared. Hotch could see that it was shot from inside a class room. He recognized the classroom as one at Jack's school. There was a child, a boy no older than Jack, that was sitting at one of the desks.

"This boy had been asked to stay for detention." Simon interjected.

The video rolled on; at first it was mundane. The boy was sitting there as punishment for something he did during the school day, having to write 100 sentences about how he was going to modify his behavior. Hotch didn't even realize they still did that in school. There were several minutes of the boy sitting at his desk writing away. Hotch could see Mr. Dunbar at his desk, probably trying to look like he was grading papers. But Hotch being as well trained as he was noticed how Dunbar kept watching the boy.

As the video progressed Hotch watched as Dunbar had the boy come over to his desk. He began making the boy touch him…..and then he began touching the boy. By the end of the video, Dunbar had made the decision to rape the young boy. Hotch knew for him to do that, on school property where there was a likelihood of getting caught meant that he was even more dangerous than anyone previously thought. Most people that do this to children preferred to be in a desolate place, away from where they might get caught. The fact that Dunbar didn't seem to care about that….he'd done this before, a lot. And he was way more dangerous than Hotch would have given him credit for.

Hotch knew he'd have to talk to Jack later about what he knew about Mr. Dunbar. Simon saw the wheels turning in Hotch's head.

"She found out that he had begun to target Jack and Henry."

"How?"

"She said that there was a night that you all went to some restaurant. As you were walking towards the building from the parking lot she had this uneasy feeling that someone was watching. She looked towards the road, and there was a man sitting in a car across the street. She said she put an arm around Jack and held him just a bit closer, listening to the story that he was telling. She said she noticed the man in the car give her a terrible look, as if he was angry with her or hated her for being so close to the boy.

The girls came over; with them she began to come up with a plan to surveil Mr. Dunbar. Jack happened to hear them, came in and asked them what they were up to. They asked him if he had noticed anything strange the past couple of days or weeks. He told them of the time he saw a man in a strange car sitting outside of his friend, Henry's, house.

Alecta showed him a sketch of the car she'd seen outside of the restaurant. He said it was the same car that he saw outside Henry's house. She showed him a sketch of the man that she had drawn, from what she had seen of the man's face. And he told her that the sketch was of Mr. Dunbar.

Alecta told Jack to stay away from Mr. Dunbar whenever possible and to keep an eye on Henry. She told him not to stay for detention for Mr. Dunbar no matter what. Then she went to the man's house, letting herself in. She told him to stay away from Jack and Henry or she would make him pay.

He broke into your apartment to try to get rid of her and get closer to the boys. That was his mistake. Alecta likes to fight to the death."

"I hate that I went off on her. I was just so upset that danger had come this close to Jack yet again. I just couldn't even see straight."

"Yes, we've heard about what happened. Some of us were actually quite impressed."

"Who are _we_?"

"No matter. But we know of your work. We have kept our eye on you. She won't be mad at you forever….but then, with Alecta, forever is a relative term."

"I just wish I knew where she was and if she was alright."

"Yes, she is alright; at least she was when I spoke to her yesterday. As far as where she is…..All I am able to tell you is that she went to Ireland to bury her friends. After that, there's not much I can say about the subject."

"Why?"

"It's called loyalty. You should try it." Hotch had the good sense to look ashamed of himself.

"I am sorry about it all; I know I handled everything all wrong."

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Alecta had spent the past 1 ½ weeks in small town Ireland. It was a beautiful place. It definitely made her think of Moira. It was quiet, like Moira. The area was quite lovely in an understated way….Just like Moira. She was the kind of woman that you would think was attractive, but you never really understood how beautiful she really was until after she was already gone.

There were times whenever Alecta was walking around the village and she would swear she could see the woman out of the corner of her eye. She wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing….One day she had been at a small local shop; she had been looking over some of the locally made jewelry. When she looked up she could have sworn on a stack of bibles that Moira was less than 20 feet away, smiling at her…..her green eyes….Alecta turned and walked calmly out; her damned tears blurring her vision.

Finally was the day that she was heading out to Russia. Her children, all six of them, were dressed and packed, ready to go. Sofie and Emma were both on their best behavior; for Sofie that was next to impossible sometimes, if things were too quiet or she hadn't been in the middle of some drama for far too long, she would begin pestering her sister. Poor Emma was so used to it, she didn't eve flinch anymore.

Sasha and Eva were older, pushing 17, and they acted like little Czarinas….that used to be Alecta's nickname for them….her little Czarinas. They were older and proud of their heritage and behaved more maturely than most of the other girls their age. And of course there was Oleg, her golden boy. Not much had changed about him. He was still one of the best children Alecta had ever met. He had been a well-tempered little boy. And he was a well-mannered, well-behaved young man. You never, never had to ask him twice to do anything for anybody.

And Rachel, was of course the apple of Alecta's eye. She was so proud of her; for Alecta to have had such a hard time raising her….if it hadn't been for Lady Heather, Sky, and the other fellas helping her so much she's not sure what would have become of her and her daughter.

Alecta was so very pregnant. Mac really didn't want her travelling, he advised against it; she was into her eighth month, well into the eighth month. And the fact that she was carry twins….that meant that she could squeeze these kids out most any day now. And add that to the fact that the babies had been so active…..kicking Alecta, keeping her awake at night; sometimes she still would get the odd bought of nausea…..Yes, Mac frowned on the travelling that she was planning on doing, wasn't happy about it at all. But there was little or no arguing with Alecta. She was going to go to Russia if her life depended on it. So Mac grabbed one of the suitcases and made his way out the door of the small house Alecta and the kids had been staying in, heading towards the van that would take them to the air strip.

Kong had stayed right beside Alecta all week. If there was so much as a hair out of place on that woman, he would know about it. Mac teased him about being so vigilant, but stopped when Kong let Mac know that things had been _too_ quiet this week. No strange diplomats or various other scum of the earth had tried to take shots at any of them all week. It didn't sit well with the man. He had stayed close out of concern.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Hotch was still in a fog days later at work. Simon had not given him an update of any sort about Alecta. He wasn't sure if that was because there was no news to tell, or if he was withholding information on purpose, liking to make Hotch squirm.

Everyone at the BAU had noticed his change. He was always en pointe and rarely ever missed a beat. But now it seemed as though nobody could penetrate the fog. He'd be lost in his thoughts during a briefing. He didn't seem to care as much about going out on cases. If it wasn't for Jack, they were sure that he would just be depressed altogether; Jack was the only thing that forced Hotch to hold it together at all.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Alecta and the children were making their way off of the private jet that they had been offered and onto the tarmac at the airstrip. There was a vehicle waiting to take them to the place they were going to stay. The transportation was parked 100ft away from the plane.

Sofie and Emma had fallen asleep on the plane, and were being carried by their older sisters, Sasha and Eva. The tots were sleeping away quietly with their little heads cradled on their sisters' shoulders. Suddenly Mac stopped the troupe, looking around. The next sound that could be heard was Oleg yelling….

"Get down!" He tackled his sister Rachel to the ground, Mac got both sets of twins down low as quickly as possible. Kong had the job of getting Alecta to the ground. He toppled first, cushioning Alecta's fall with his body, being careful that she didn't fall full weight onto her stomach, and the rolled her carefully under him.

Shots rang out just as everyone hit the pavement.

Immogene, with her MI-6 training, stooped at the top of the stairs to the plane and leveled her sniper rifle.

"Where did the shots come from?"

"They came from the west. The shooter would use the fact that he could see us but it would be next to impossible to see him from the glare of the sun behind him."

"It might be _next_ to impossible, but that implies that there is still room for retaliation." Immogene got behind her rifle, looking through the scope.

"Son of a bitch!" she exclaimed quietly when she saw who the shooter had been….well shooters; there had been more than one. She squeezed off four rapid fire shots; she knew she had killed one shooter for sure…one of the shots pierced his chest cavity; the other had hit him in the head. The second shooter was merely injured, but badly enough that he wouldn't get very far before they caught him.

Setting her rifle to the side and flying down the steps, 'Is everyone alright down here?"

"We're all in one piece. Nice shooting love. Did you get a good look at the shooter?"

"There were at least two shooters, and you're never going to believe who they were. Not in a million years."

**Post AN: So that is it for chapter 32. Hope you liked it. Lemme know for sure though. Next chapter, we find out who the shooters were, and possibly why they did it. Got some other stuff planned as well, but will have to see where everything takes us. **


	33. Chapter 33

**CHPT 33**

**Ok, still don't own the whole CM thing. Just own my OCs that's all….well that and a fair amount of debt. **

"Immogene, we have no time for the guessing games. What did you see?"

"Might I suggest we get back on the plane and get the hell off of the ground first?" Kong's deep baritone was heard to rumble as he helped Alecta up carefully.

"Ow!" That was the first word out of Alecta's mouth as she was finally standing upright.

"What is it _Devika_?" Kong was still at her side, one large arm around her shoulders, his left hand still holding onto her right one.

Alecta doubled over in his arms, 'Bad timing."

"Mac!"

"She's not bleeding, so she wasn't shot….Get her on the plane for safety, I can look her over once we are airborne."

Kong swept Alecta up in his arms and carried her back onto the plane, she was still in a fair amount of pain; everyone else followed close on their heels. Oleg and Mac were making sure that the girls all got on the plane safely.

"Radar,' Mac spoke to his pilot, 'do we have enough fuel to get to Istanbul?"

"We should, but let me run a quick check to be sure."

"You'll have to make it fast."

"Too right."

Radar went to go ahead and run his checks before they thought about taking off again.

"Sir, can I help?" Oleg asked quietly.

"Do you know anything about planes?"

"If you tell me what to do, I'll do it. We have to get mother away from this place."

Radar gave the kid a crash course in things that needed to be looked over; telling him what levels everything should be at for optimum safety.

"Sir…"

"You can call me Radar, most everyone does."

"Radar…..I think that everything has cleared the inspection." Oleg went on to show the man what he had seen; the man was impressed by the way Oleg retained so much of what he had been told so quickly.

"Very well, get back on the plane with the others and buckle up. I'm going to get you all the hell out of here."

"Thank you Mr. Radar." Oleg bowed his head slightly before racing back up the steps to the plane's interior. Radar merely shook his head, deciding that Oleg was a pretty awesome kid.

What nobody outside of Alecta knew was Radar's true identity. Like Simon, there was more to Radar than just an ordinary pilot. Radar was a clever little nickname that Alecta gave him so very long ago…..during the WWI era. Radar was none other than St. Christopher. And he had a duty to look after his travelers. He took his seat in the cockpit; he knew he might need a second pair of eyes, but the kid wasn't ready for this.

"Immogene?"

"Yes?"

"Would you mind terribly in helping me out up here?"

"Of course not. I'm coming."

"Radar, how fast can you get us to Istanbul?" Kong asked.

"At the average rate of speed, it might take about three hours."

"Alecta's having contractions. Try an above average rate of speed." Mac added.

"Just get us there as fast as you can, as safely as you can." Kong said, giving the poor man a little wiggle room.

After all was said and done, Radar got the plane safely into Istanbul within two hours flat. He had Immogene help him keep one eye on the meters on the plane while he kept an eye open for any turbulence that might cause a problem.

During the flight Kong had put in a call to a friend of the 'family', Selim Volkan, to have him meet them at the air strip. Upon landing, they quickly located Selim. He would be the guy that was nearly as large as Kong, and nearly as well built driving the discrete 'taxi'. As if.

"How is she fairing?" Selim asked upon seeing his friends.

"She is having contractions that are less than 10 minutes apart. Next question." Alecta was rather abrupt.

"Ah, yes. How could I forget how pleasant your demeanor is when you are in labor?" Selim grinned at Alecta as Kong cradled her in his arm. Just as she would have reached out to possibly try to strangle the smug man, Mac chipped in with his question.

"Are we going to the place near Sophia?"

"Not just now. It is….not….such a good place right now."

"What do you mean?"

"Hey! Pregnant woman with very impatient babies over here. Can we have this discussion a little later?" Alecta grew a little more…..crabby with every moment that passed.

Selim chuckled, 'She has a point my friend. We will take her to my place. It's in the old part of the city. We will be safe there. I have called ahead for my friend Bayezit to join us; he can lend us some help if it is needed." Seeing the look on Alecta's face as he mentioned Bayezit, 'And, to answer your question. Yes. He will be bringing his wife, Yildiz. She has been wondering when she might see you again. She misses you."

Everyone climbed into the van…it looked like one of those delivery vans like the messenger services use, only it was outfitted better inside for seating. Selim made his way as carefully and quickly as possible through the insane traffic in Istanbul's sometimes narrow streets.

"Why do you look so forlorn, Devika?" Kong noticed the disappointed expression on her face.

"I am missing the city."

"You have seen it a hundred times."

"But every time I see it, I find some new reason to love it more than the last time." She sniffled a bit.

"We will be to my home soon little one. And then, you can have the babies comfortably, in safety. And soon enough you will be back to your ways, panting the city red. Istanbul misses you too, never doubt that." Selim smiled at her from the rear-view mirror.

Alecta tried to relax and just calm down for the rest of the ride. But, damn it! She was missing her city.

After another 15 minute drive they arrived at Selim's building. He wasn't lying when he said that it was in the old part of the city. To anyone from the outside, you would have doubted he even had running water. He did; it was the electricity that was a little sketchy. He gave up trying to have a TV a long time ago, he could never get the damned thing to work very long….and even if he did, the current coming through the circuitry would fry the thing. His lighting was dim, at best, and sometime it flickered. He kept a shit ton of candles on stand-by….and lanterns. But outside of the issue with the electric, Alecta had always loved his home. Old pictures of his family on the walls…..grandparents, great-grandparents and so on; pictures of different sights in Istanbul, various other paintings and sketches that lined the walls. In one room he had his own little office. It heavily resembled Alecta's from before. It looked like the office of some mad professor. Papers and old books, scrolls, and maps all littered the desk top. His shelves were full to bursting with books on various historical topics and curiosities. The large window in the office looked out onto a scene that was capped off by a distant view of 'Sophia'. Alecta had always loved this apartment. She could remember when they were in love; it seemed so long ago now. She would wander around the apartment when he was off at work at the university. She would head into his office and shuffle through the papers and books, she was so fascinated. He would come home and find her sleeping sprawled out in his desk chair, having fallen asleep watching the way the sun changed against the walls of the Hagia Sophia in the distance. He would make some remark about how she only loved him for the view from that window. She'd make the joke that he was correct. He would carry her to bed. Most of the time they didn't even have to do anything, just fall asleep curled up together; having stared at each other until they lost the fight and both of them fell asleep.

At the very thought of all this she became even more morose. She missed those days…..the days when she could believe it when a man said he loved her….because he meant it. It was the days when she didn't have to worry about such demons as vampires clawing their way out of the grave to ruin everything she held dear. God! She missed Istanbul for so many reasons. It had been home to her before, in her old life. She had loved the city since it was first Constantinople. Matter of fact, she had known Constantine. She was ambivalent about him. She didn't hate him, but their paths only crossed on rare occasions. Sometimes when she had nothing to do but travel, she would find herself at the Musei Capitolini in Rome, just staring at the colossal sculptured head, as if expecting it to blink or for him to speak to her. Sometimes, even now, in her mortal form, she missed the old life. There were friends she had that were no longer there. In some cases it had been centuries since she'd seen one of them….but it felt like one minute they were pacing the halls of some villa or ancient thoroughfare and laughing at something one had said to the other or in some cases, plotting….and the next minute she looked up and they were just….gone. There were only a few people in the world that could even begin to grasp what nearly 8,000 years of this could do to a person, and those numbers got smaller every time she thought about it.

"Alecta, the contractions are only about five minutes apart at most. I don't think we have the time to give you anything." Mac broke through her melancholy thoughts.

"It's fine, I've done this before. Wait! Where's Bayezit and Yildiz?"

"You didn't even notice them enter? My good man, Bayezit, I do believe you're losing your touch." Selim joked with the man. Bayezit grinned sheepishly. Yildiz took it upon herself to shoo all of the men, except Mac out of the room. Immogene staid with Alecta, at her side, holding her hand. After Yildiz chased the men out of the room, she busied herself getting a large pitcher filled with hot water to fill the basin in the room, as well as grabbing some towels. Mac busied himself opening the medical bag that he kept close by at all times. Cossette, Ivory, Oona, Lakshmi, and Isis came into the room finally. Ordinarily Mac would have taken issue with so many people being in the room at a time like this; but under the circumstances, the extra hands would be useful.

Immogene carefully studied Alecta's face, 'What has you so….blue?"

"So many things."

"Like what?"

"Hotc….Aaron had really wanted to be in the babies lives. He wanted to be there. And because of the argument and the way it made me feel I left, and now he's not here." Immogene could see the tears pooling quickly in Alecta's eyes. "I've become such a wreck. In these past few weeks, I've grown so used to him being around. You know me better than that."

"Well, if he hadn't have shot his mouth off, we would likely be in America right now…..or at the very least he could have come with us and he'd be here now, too. This isn't your fault. You had every right to feel some anger about the way he spoke to you."

"Maybe. But I can understand. He was terrified for Jack's safety….and Henry's. Aaron has lost a lot of the last few years…."

"Mac can we get the babies out quick, these hormones are making her mushy. She's starting to take _his_ side in the argument."

"Give me time; it's not like pulling the string on a ship in a bottle. You just keep her calm. Since I don't have my usual monitors and other appliances, I need you to make sure she doesn't get herself worked up. We don't need her blood pressure to spike for God's sakes. Cossette, go grab a couple lanterns to give me more light."

"Yes sir." Cossette disappeared into the living room, asking Selim for the needed things. Coming back into the room, Cossette, with Selim's help hung the lanterns up above the bed a bit to grant Mac as much light as they could.

"That should be good enough. Thank you."

"Anything you need, let us know."

Selim went back out into the living room with Bayezit and Kong. Kong was pacing. He didn't like not being in there with her. He trusted Mac; that was never an issue. But Kong had always been a trifle over protective of the girls, especially Alecta; pacing was all he could do. He didn't even pay attention to the fact that Selim was trying to ask him questions. He was vaguely aware of hearing the other man's voice, but for the life of him, he couldn't tell you what Selim had just said to him. That is, until Selim stood in his path, causing him to stop pacing. Kong just gave him this funny look as if trying to figure out why the man was even here in the first place.

"My friend, my apartment is old. The floor is original. And in one day you're going to manage to do what history could not, by wearing a hole into it. What has you so preoccupied? What has our dear girl gotten herself into this time?"

Kong began to tell him of the recent developments; the foreigner that was after her, without saying his name. Nobody ever really wanted to speak his name out loud; doing so would be like inviting him into your home, that's not something that sane people wanted. And he also told Selim about the relationship between Alecta and Agent Hotchner, and their fight. He stated that everyone knew why Agent Hotchner had behaved the way he did about the argument. But they were still angry with him nonetheless.

"Of course you are. This is not shocking to me." Selim smiled at Kong slightly. Kong merely rolled his eyes at Selim.

"Come, sit, eat, and drink. We have some Rakiya and other things that might interest you. You need to sit. My floor cannot take much more."

"Shut up." Kong said as he walked over to the divan to sit down. Selim only snickered as Kong walked past him.

Kong, Selim, Bayezit, and Alecta's other children were sitting around the living room of Selim's apartment…eating and drinking…talking over things. Immogene and Yildiz were still in the room with Mac, helping him to deliver the babies.

It seemed like it was days; days and days, before the people out in the living room heard a baby wailing. It had been only two hours in reality. Kong stood, dumping his dishes all over the floor, walking at a quick pace to the door, Selim grabbing at his arm.

"Stay out here until you are called man. We will only be in the way." The last bit that Selim was trying to say was cut off by the sound of a second baby crying. At that time, all bets were off. Kong barged into the room, he would not be stopped.

Mac was just handing the second baby over to Yildiz and Cossette to be taken care of.

"Gentlemen, it seems as though the doctor was mistaken when he predicted the sex of the babies. I have delivered two _girls_, not one of each."

There was a loud cry heard, Kong looked around immediately; his eyes falling on Alecta. She was still in great agony.

"Mac, fix it. Why is she still hurting?" Kong was in nearly as much distress as Alecta.

"Take the baby….take the baby." Mac told Cossette and Ivory.

Yildiz was saying something too quickly in Arabic for Mac to understand.

Mac quickly got back over to Alecta, checking her over to try to find out what the problem might be.

"Ah! Here we go. Here it is."

"What man! Just fix it."

Mac got back to work, there was the cry of a third baby heard.

"And here is that little boy that we were told to expect. You're such a little gent aren't you now? Letting the ladies go first."

Immogene's eyes were wide, 'Three?"

"Yes. Three. The other two must have been hiding their sister."

Everyone looked over to Alecta as Mac handed off the third unexpected little bundle. She was very weak, as could be expected. Mac set about getting her taken care of now that the babies were delivered.

Immogene, feeling the pulse in Alecta's throat, 'Her heart is beating entirely too fast for my liking. Mac! Make it snappy."

Mac finished getting her all done up, leaned over and felt her pulse for himself.

"Run a bath of cold water. Do not put ice in it…"

"My friend, you are in Istanbul. What ice?" Selim arched an eyebrow at Mac.

"Run the water as cold as you can get it within reason. We need to put her in there to slow her heart rate a bit. Someone help me get her wrapped in a sheet."

Rachel stepped forward and helped Mac wrap her mother in a sheet; it was much like wrapping a cocoon. Selim and Bayezit ran ahead to the bathroom and began filling the tub with cold water as instructed; Kong began carrying her on back to put her in the tub. Alecta was barely able to hold her eyes open; it had been a stressful day. Flying from Ireland to Russia, being shot at, then the contractions started, and now she has had triplets. Really! And to think it wasn't even 5p.m. yet.

Mac had her set down in the tub; with her sitting in it the water was up to her neck. Rachel was told to stay with her mother for the next few minutes, keeping watch over her while Mac talked with Immogene to find out what the hell had happened in Russia.

"Who the hell was shooting at us back there?"

"First, you cannot tell her what's going on; she has had enough to deal with today….shit this week as a matter of fact."

"Immogene….."

"Fine. When I raised my weapon and lined my shot up….when I looked through the scope….."

"Woman!"

"The shooters were Sergei and Yuri."

"What!"

**Post AN: So, that wraps up chapter 33 for me. I had debated about making it last longer, but this seems as good a spot as any to cut it off. There will be a chapter 34 coming soon enough. I couldn't think of any quotes (or find any) that appealed to me for this chapter; nor could I think of any song lyrics either for that matter. **

**Until next time then, let me know what you think if you would. Thanx.**


	34. Chapter 34

**Chpt. 34**

**Am the owner of nothing but a bit of debt, and my OC's. There, I said it.**

"**I wonder if that's just how it feels to miss someone so bad – like being stabbed in the gut a little bit, each time you think of them." (Kate Ellison, Notes from Ghost Town)**

"**The distant soul can shake the distant friend's soul and make the longing felt, over untold miles." (John Masefield)**

"**There was nowhere I could go that wouldn't be you." (Jeffrey Eugenides, Middlesex)**

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(Latitude, Elton John)**

**Grey London morning, wet London streets  
Rain on the window, wind in the trees  
It's my time to write, it's your time to call  
There's something about distance that gets to us all**

**Dark clouds above me, little people below  
All walk with a purpose with someplace to go  
It's my place to paint my own selfish scene  
On this cold lonely canvas, it's just the weather and me**

**And latitude  
Fold back the morning and bring on the night  
There's an alien moon  
That hangs between darkness and light  
Latitude between me and you  
You're a straight line of distance  
A cold strech of black across blue  
Latitude**

**Cracks in the sidewalks, dogs on the run  
An old poster reading "Give us your sons"  
Window frames capture moments in time  
But latitude captures the heart and the mind**

"But it's so blasted cold. I want out of here."

"Momma, Mac wants you to sit in here for a little while to lower your heart rate. It was going so fast he worried about you going unconscious. So, you're going to sit there until he says to pull you out. You can give me the stink eye all you want."

"But…."

"You just squeezed out three babies, two with one to grow on. You are weak…"

"Not that weak."

"And you need to calm down."

"I am calm."

"Sure you are. That's why you've been so glum ever since we got to Istanbul. This is one of your favorite places in the entire world; that should at least make you a little happy."

"I have lived through another run in with human traffickers. I have survived contact with my father, can't say the same for him. My second husband tried to kill me….How many times? He's dead now. I had to watch someone that I thought was one of my best friends being killed because she turned on me. I just got through burying two of the best friends I have ever had. Hotch and I are at odds. He wanted to be here for the babies, and because of our disagreement he isn't. I venture into Russia to allow my children to see their grandparents and get shot at. To top this all off I go into labor; and exactly how much of Istanbul have I seen? So far, all I have seen is the inside of Selim's apartment, which I am grateful for. There are few safe places for me at the moment it seems. And in the middle of all of this, the _only_ bright spot, outside of the fact that I have been able to spend time with the children I already have, is that I have just given birth to three seemingly healthy babies….that I haven't even named yet…haven't even held them yet. I should be a little happy? Pray tell why?"

"Fine, let me check your pulse rate and see if it's calmed down any and get Mac back in here to get his opinion. If he says it's ok, you can be put in the bed to rest. We'll get you warmed up, and get something for you to eat."

"That's a start at least. When can I hold the babies?"

"We'll see what Uncle Mac says."

Meanwhile back in the living room, Mac and the others could not believe the bomb that Immogene had just dropped. Kong was fuming mad.

"I thought that Yuri was supposed to be blind. His eyes….."

"When I saw him through the scope, his eyes looked fine. Think about it, as long as he was around the traffickers, Mengele could have given him something to make him blind, perhaps the day before the raid. How are we to know?"

"But why would he or Sergei do something like this?"

"I don't know yet. I am going to call Garcia and have her dig into this."

"Wait. By doing that you'll be revealing where we are. Hotch…."

"Mac, right now the idea that Hotch might find out where we are is the least of my worries. Sergei and Yuri are hunting her now. We know what they are like. And, let's not forget about Impatiev. If they are hunting her, what's happened to the old man? I don't give a shit about Hotch knowing she's here. I need to know what the hell is going on and why."

"Fine. Whatever you think is best. I just don't see why you can't call on some of your other connections."

"Most of them have to operate within the boundaries of the law. Pen has no such restraints, she can and _will_ go where others will not. How do you think she got her job at the bureau? It wasn't for selling girl-scout cookies. I'll be back; I have to go find an area with some decent reception to make the call."

"Take this with you." Selim pressed a gun that happened to be loaded with silver bullets into her hand. 'You never know what kind of crazy things are out there." He winked as he let her be on her way out the door.

Immogene bowed her head slightly in a gesture of thanks as she turned for the door.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Once Immogene had left the apartment to go make her call, Rachel had finally been able to get Mac's attention, getting him to come check on Alecta.

"It should be alright to transfer her to the bed now. We will need to keep an eye on her though; are you up to this Rachel?"

"She's my mother, I'm insulted that you even asked me that." She walked over to the basin in the room which had been filled with fresh water thanks to Yildiz and soaked a rag in it before wringing the excess out. She walked over to her mother and patted her face with the damp rag as Alecta turned on her side to try and get comfortable.

The men walked back out into the living room, thinking about a great many things.

Selim was the first to speak, 'I think we should hold off on telling her the identity of the shooters you speak of. She has already had enough excitement for one day and that may be just too much to bear."

"You could be right. I'm going to go look in on the babies for a moment." Mac made his way out of the room.

The three infants had been taken to Selim's study and kept there. It wasn't the best place perhaps, but it had that view of Hagia Sophia….consequently, the Hagia Sophia had a view of them; that sad fact alone made that one room in the apartment the safest room in all of Istanbul right now.

Mac looked the babies over carefully. Their little arms and legs were stretching and flexing as they got use to the freedom of movement, finally being on the outside world. He weighed them. Each of the girls weighed barely more than 5lbs.; their brother was substantially bigger, that little chunky monkey weighed in at nearly 9lbs. The girls were only about 14 inches long each. The boy was nearly 22 inches long.

Looking at the three bundles, their chubby little cheeks, and dark eyes looking around everywhere, 'Where did your mother hide all this baby cargo?"

The babies had been properly cleaned up by Yildiz, Cossette, and Ivory. After the cursory check-up, Cossette picked up one of the little girls cuddling her a bit, while Yildiz made such a fuss over the little boy; he was such a big baby, and how handsome he was going to be, etc.

Mac made his way back out into the living room. Kong was staring out of the window, daring someone with less than perfect intentions to come near the apartment. Mac was sure, just from the look on the man's face, most of the known world would quake in fear if they realized how deadly serious Kong was.

Selim looked thoughtful, staring at an old picture on the wall.

Walking up next to Selim, 'What is on your mind old man?"

"We will have to move her to the fortress soon. My home was enough to give her a safe place to have the babies. But the fortress will be better for long term use. We don't know what the dark prince is planning, and we would be in a vulnerable position here. Not to mention that if the others, her friends from America, join us…..where would everyone go? We need more space. We need more weaponry. And we need a more defensible spot to regroup. "

"You're right of course. Let's just give her a couple hours to rest though yeah? That will give you and Bayezit time to make arrangements as well as giving Immogene time to get back and tell us what she knows."

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Alecta lay in the bed, asleep, restlessly. She kept trying to get comfortable. And once she did get comfortable and could doze off she kept playing the last few weeks over in her head….the first sighting of that monster coming back into her life that had turned her already turbulent life even more upside down; that day at the café, when she and Hotch had been having a bit of lunch when they had been shopping for things for her and the babies. Then that train of thought led her to thinking about Hotch. She wanted to call him. She needed to apologize and beg him to forgive her. And she missed Jack, but then again, so did Sofie and Emma. He was their little friend, as well as Henry. They had been asking when they could see the boys again every day since they had first been in Ireland.

Rachel noticed her mother's melancholy demeanor and knew what it was about.

"You will see him again soon enough I, feel sure of that. Now, rest."

"I'm trying."

Rachel knew that it was the truth. She knew also that her mother wouldn't truly rest until she was able to see Agent Hotchner again. She knew that things weighed heavily on her mother's conscience, few things more than the current situation.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Hotch was sitting in his office at the BAU. It was a Thursday; and it was over cast outside….raining its ass off. That was just as well with him. Nothing had been right for about two, nearly three, weeks. On top of all his other issues of guilt about what happened between himself and Alecta, Jack was angry at him for her leaving now, too.

She had left that damned note for him. Part of it had told him to make sure that Jack got to keep that old dusty edition of 'Hound of the Baskervilles' that she had been reading with him. Jack had loved the book so much; not only did he get to keep that book, but she left behind just for Jack, all of her old Victorian Gothic mystery books….The Picture of Dorian Gray, Dr…(he didn't even want to think the word, just in case it could bring something bad down on him)…but it was a book by Bram Stoker, Allan Quartermain….there was an entire collection of early editions of Sherlock Holmes…..among others; of course she gave express instructions that most of them were not supposed to be read by Jack alone. Some of them might have material that Hotch wouldn't find appropriate for Jack, so he needed to read them to Jack so he could sensor them if he felt the need. There were several other things she had left for Jack….a very old compass (it had to be nearly 200 years old), a very old set of tin soldiers (Hotch wasn't sure about their age, but Reid had dated them to be about 350 years old….and Reid knew almost everything)…there had been a note to go with the soldiers….'They are to be kept in the box until their help is needed. Soldiers work hard and need their rest….'

Hotch had to smile when he thought of that; she was always finding new ways to get Jack to use his imagination….he could never have guessed they were so much more than ordinary tin soldiers.

It was of little consequence anyway. Jack had become so angry at Hotch over this whole episode that he had taken to staying with his aunt Jessica on weekends. When he was home during the school week he stayed in Alecta's cave almost 24 hours a day; he only came out to take his meals and use the bathroom. Hotch realized he had barely heard his son speak in nearly three weeks. Oh, sure he had tried speaking with Jack, tried to apologize to the boy for everything. But it seemed as though Jack was inconsolable. He missed his Alecta. There was nobody that could tell a story quite like her. Sometimes when Hotch would walk past the door to the cave he would see the boy sitting in the floor flipping through his Sherlock Holmes books. These seem to fascinate the boy the most. Sometimes Hotch would find the boy asleep in the floor, his head resting on one of the large books; sometimes the boy would be asleep in the day bed, with the book across his chest, and an arm draped over the book to hold his place.

Hotch missed Alecta….and he missed his son. He prayed every single day that someday soon he would find out whatever had happened to her and her babies. He needed to find her and bring her back home.

Frantic knocking sounded at his office door. "Come in,' Hotch said, an agitated tone to his voice. He wanted to be left alone. He'd become so unbearable the last couple of weeks that he was nearly put on administrative leave; if Rossi hadn't stepped forward and told Strauss and the Deputy Director that he would take over Hotch's duties until further notice, Hotch would have gotten his ass canned for the foreseeable future. He wasn't even concentrating on paper work. He couldn't give a damn about paper work on some inane case that looked just like the last three before it. Leaning back in his chair he waited for the person on the other side of his office door to enter.

"Is it safe in here?' Garcia asked meekly.

Hotch thought about that. This was the first time in days that Garcia had spoken to him directly for anything, well since that day that he had jumped her shit and she had burst into tears, running from the room. It took him two days to be able to see out of his left eye again, _thank you Derek Morgan_….he thought inwardly.

"Yes, it's safe, Garcia. How can I help you?"

Coming more fully into the room, sitting nervously, 'This time I think I can help you."

"Do tell."

"I just got a call from Immogene."

"Yes."

"She needs me to do some investigating."

"Annnd."

Sighing, 'It seems that after going to Ireland to bury the girls, Alecta was taking the kids with her to Russia to visit her in-laws. Well….once they disembarked from the plane and had made it out onto the tarmac someone started shooting at their little group…."

"Say what!" Hotch stood abruptly, turning his chair over in the process.

"Shhh, shhh, shhh. I'm not finished. Immogene took a few shots at the snipers. She killed one and winged the other apparently. Everyone, including Alecta got back onto the plane safely and they made their way to Istanbul. But due to the stress of the last few weeks, and being shot at, Alecta began having contractions. She had the babies earlier today, in Istanbul….at her friend Selim's apartment. Mac helped her."

"Is there anything else?"

"Not just yet, I have to do some research on a few things that Immogene asked for. I just thought you ought to know what I had learned so far."

"Thank you Garcia. I don't deserve it after the way I've treated everybody, but thank you."

"Yes you do. You made a mistake; you're paying for it now. You love her…..that's all there is to understand. Sometimes that makes you do things, behave, in ways you wouldn't ordinarily."

Getting up to make her exit, 'Look if I can find anything else at all that I think you would want to know, I will come and tell you. "

Hotch only nodded. Seeing his depressed posture and the look on his face, "Sir, if it's any consolation at all, Immogene did say that Alecta had been talking about you earlier, before she had the babies. She, Immogene, said that Alecta misses you something awful; that she feels like hell because of all of this….and that she has seemed so melancholy since they left us."

With that, Garcia turned to leave. It didn't make Hotch feel any better at all. Alecta was being wracked with guilt over leaving when she did nothing wrong….this should be one of the happiest moments of her life, and she was in as bad a shape as he was. In his mind things were settled. He missed Alecta. She missed him. Hotch missed his son. Jack missed Alecta….Hotch knew that he had to do something to get her back in their lives as soon as possible.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Garcia made her way back to her office deep in thought. She didn't even notice when Derek called out to her, she was thinking too hard about all that she had learned in the last 45 minutes.

Derek saw his Baby Girl walking back to her office, almost as if she was in a fog. He called to her and got no response so he decided to go to her to get her attention.

"Baby, what's going on? What was that about with Hotch?"

"Huh? Oh, that…"

"Sweetheart…."

"I found Alecta."

"How?"

"Immogene called. It was around 45 minutes ago, I just got off the phone with her."

"What did she say?"

"She said that she needed me to do some research on some people. Apparently, after Alecta and the others went to Ireland, they were going to go to Russia so she and the kids could see her in-laws. People started shooting at them as they disembarked the plane."

"What!?"

"They are safe, nobody was hurt…well except one of the shooters, he's dead. Alecta and the others made it back on the plane and into the air safely. Although, after all the stress of the past couple of weeks, Alecta went into labor. They flew to Istanbul, made it to the safety of a friend's apartment. Immogene said that Alecta had the babies earlier this afternoon before she left to make the phone call."

"Did she say who the shooters were at the airport in Russia?"

Derek could tell by the guilty look on Garcia's face that she knew the identity of the shooters.

"Pen, who were the shooters? Does Hotch know?"

"Hotch knows they were shot at, but I didn't tell him who the shooters were."

"Who Pen? Who were the shooters?"

Garcia fidgeted a moment, unsure of how to say it to make it sound less…..not as bad as it was.

"We're going to find out eventually anyway, so you might as well come on out with it Darling."

"I know, I know.' Releasing a heavy sigh, 'the shooters that were at the airport in Russia….it was….They were….It was Sergei and Yuri."

"Why would Yuri try to kill his own wife?" Derek was stunned, more than Penelope had seen in a long time.

"We're not sure. That's why Immogene wanted me to look into it. And I need to try to get in touch with Impatiev to see if he knows anything about it. I just have this feeling that something is terribly wrong; more so than it has been in the first place."

"Well, do you need my help?"

"Not just yet stud. I have to see what I can find with my babies first. But, I'll call you as soon as I know something."

With that Derek gave her a peck on the cheek and let her get back to her work; he returned to his desk and began calling one of the local police departments and giving them a consultation on a case they had asked for a bit of help with. Glancing up to the door of Hotch's office, Derek couldn't help but think that Penelope was right and that the troubles had only just begun.

**Post AN: OK, so that's 34. Hope it was at least up to par with my other work. Lemme know whatcha think. Have already started on 35, lol. **


	35. Chapter 35

**Chapt. 35**

Picking up the phone, Hotch called a friend of his that was in real-estate. He wanted to find out if he had any houses that were up for sale that had plenty of space. He figured eight bedrooms would do the trick. That would give Oleg his own room. Sasha and Eva could have a room together; Sophie and Emma could share a room, there would be a room to put the new babies in. Hotch and Alecta could have a room of their own (if that is what she wanted), and they would still have a couple of rooms to spare for guests….or she could have her own room. Right now, he'd agree to almost anything to have her near. There would need to be enough rooms for them both to have an office. They could technically share, but he wanted to have the space for two separate offices, if that was what Alecta chose. A large gourmet kitchen…..he knew that when Alecta had time she liked to cook a lot, not to mention when they had team nights and Rossi felt like showing off. Hotch began to think that maybe six bathrooms would be good, perhaps seven; there might be wiggle room on this. A super huge family room would be needed, especially with that many children. He wanted a huge yard; even if he had to pay someone to help them come and take care of it, he wanted a huge yard. The kids needed plenty of space to play and run around.

When he called his friend, Todd, he told him his situation; he was involved with a woman that had her own children, he had his son, and they needed a house with enough space to house the Brady Bunch.

"How many bedrooms and bathrooms are you thinking of? Approximately how much square footage would you like?"

"I need up to eight bedrooms. We would like as many as six or seven bathrooms, but we're flexible on that. We need enough rooms to have two offices; sometimes I bring work home, and she has a few things she's into that might require her to have her own space…..a large family/living room….huge yard. I'm not sure about what square footage we'll need, but I'm thinking that 3,000-4,000 is a decent range. I'd have to see the house and see how the rooms are laid out, etc, to see how it all flows and works together….Oh, and a gourmet kitchen; we like to cook. "

"Ok, let me look at some of my inventory and see what's available. You do know you're at a fairly high price point with this wish list right?"

"She's worth every penny. Just call me back as soon as you think you've come up with something."

"Of course. Well, let me jump on this and I'll let you get back to your work."

"Thanks Todd."

Hotch hung up the phone and sat back in his chair, finally feeling a little relaxed for the first time in weeks. Although, now he was distracted from work for a totally different reason than being consumed with the wracking guilt. Now he was picturing Jack, Sofie, and Emma piled on the sofa with Alecta reading from one of her dusty old books; Alecta and her girls would likely be arm wrestling each other over the last couple of handfuls of M&M's…..they loved those damned things. Jack would be munching on his jelly beans…..Alecta would take one from him if he offered it, even though she hated jelly beans with a passion; if Jack was kind enough to offer, she wouldn't turn him down. Sometimes when he watched Alecta with him…she had this look in her eye as if she would kill anybody that would lay a finger on the boy. And that's exactly what she did, except she kept that monster from getting close to the boy. There were times that her face was so serene…..times like when she would lay her head on Jack's lap and let him read to her from one of the chapters out of 'Hound of the Baskervilles', letting him see how much of it he could read and comprehend for himself…and to feel like a big boy, doing it on his own. She would just sit and listen to him, not correcting him unless he asked for help. Sometimes he would see how sad she would be when Jack was away at school or at his aunt's house; he would catch her glancing at a picture of the baby boy she had lost. He knew the boy would be nearly Jack's age and she was trying to picture what the boy would have been like. Sometimes she'd linger on the photo a bit too long and scramble to put it away as Hotch came into the room. If he tried to tell her that he didn't mind her having it out, she would quickly claim to not be doing anything. As a profiler, he realized that she saw that child as one of her greatest failures; he also realized that she would likely never speak about it again. She would just watch Jack and wonder. But her face rarely ever lost the serene look as she watched the little boy or her own children playing.

He'd catch her watching Sasha, Eva, and Oleg and she'd have mixed emotions on her face. Sadness was for all the years that she was separated from them, not being able to watch them grow up and watch so many major life moments that other parents take for granted. Happiness was for when she realized that they were super kids really. Sasha and Eva, the tsarinas…the Empresses. They had no problem being the typical 17 year old girls; talking about boys, new music, what movie they wanted to see. But they were just as comfortable speaking to anyone about any subject. They were at least as strong as their mother; they were trained to a degree in some self-defense. He'd seen them sparring at the gym once. Hotch felt bad for anyone that went against them. The door was wide open for them to seriously maim someone for life. And, Oleg, her darling prince; that boy was going to be at least as big as his father, and as strong. That same day at the gym, Oleg had been going through some practice rounds with his sisters as well as a few of the grown men that patronized the gym. Though, it was likely he let his sisters win (ever the gentleman), he had no mercy on his other opponents.

"I'm not a mercy kind of guy,' he had once told Hotch. '_I'm not a mercy kind of girl,'_ Alecta had once said to him.

Hotch shook his head at the memory, trying to dig back into his paperwork.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

At a small café in St. Petersburg, Russia there was a large man sitting at a table, sipping his coffee. A second man, dressed in a rumpled suit and drab shirt sat down across the table from him.

With his thick accent the second stranger spoke first, 'Yuri, I presume."

"Yes. Who's asking?"

"We have mutual interests in common. Come with me and I will tell you all you need to know about getting close enough to get rid of _her_."

"What makes you think I need your help?

"That is a fair question. The only answer that I have is, look at what happened to your brother."

"What do you have in mind?"

"Go after her friends."

"She doesn't have too many of those."

"There are a few though that she is terribly attached to. You took care of two problems already. Running Istvan over with that car was a stroke of genius. It's only too bad that he will recover. You should have backed up and done it again. And that old man, Impatiev…..what you did to him was even better. He never saw it coming. Now, listen to me boy and together we will take everything she loves from her."

"Keep talking."

"Well there's her mother, she only recently came back into Alecta's life. There's the old man…..she holds him dear to her heart because of the fact he never let her be forgotten. The blonde with the glasses…..she is very much like a sister. The other two women would be as they say, collateral. The darker skinned man, just because of his close link to the 'sister'; if something happens to her, you'll get him as a bonus. The thin man, her boss…..He loves her blindly, and she is beginning to feel the same for him. But his son, the boy Jack…..he is the lynch pin in the whole thing. If you want to really go for the heart, go after that boy. After losing her own children, especially her own still born son, she would do anything to protect him. If something were to happen to him, she would burn the world down to get him back."

"You speak as though you know her."

"I know her better than anyone else alive. We have…..history. I just know that she will burn the world down to save the boy….and she is one of the few people I know that could actually do it. I want her to suffer as badly, if not worse than you do."

"What makes you think that you want this worse than me? What did she ever do to you?"

The foreign man raised his hands to his shirt collar, moving it aside a bit, revealing the scar around his neck.

"I was in love with her once. Not only did she spurn me…..but in the end she was the one that had been sent to kill me; she cut my head off. My body was buried in some God forsaken corner of the world. My head was sent to the Sultan as a prize. I would have laughed at the irony myself if I had not been so perversely angry. If I can't have her, I will kill everything she loves. I want it all destroyed, but I need your help."

"Wait, if she….Then how are you….?"

"Another story for another day. Just prepare yourself. I will contact you soon."

The stranger stood up and walked away, he left a scrap of paper behind that had an address scribbled on it with a name:

_Langham Apartments. Apartment 121. Aaron Hotchner._

Yuri grabbed the paper and threw the remainder of his drink away; he stood up slinging his jacket over his arm and walked in the opposite direction, a smile on his face. His lovely wife was going to get what she had coming to her. Turning the corner he snickered to himself, his luck was unbelievable.

**Post AN: So, I think that's going to be chapter 35, it isn't as long as my usual chapters; don't know if that's good or bad. But I do know that it pretty much wrote itself.**


	36. Chapter 36

**Chpt 36.**

**Don't own CM….as usual, just debt and OC's. **

"**And there is nothing more dangerous in this world, in any world, than someone calm, clear and angry." (Audrey Hart, The Dig)**

There was another case that took the team out of town for the better part of a week. They were in Nevada; it was a Thelma and Louise case…..outcome, death by cop. It was way less glamorous than the movie. The women had made everyone, not just Hotch, think of Alecta. They had both had broken homes…..alcoholic abusive parents, both parents…not just their fathers. One of the UNSUBS' mothers had even been a prostitute that had taken to selling her daughter for money when her own 'career' started falling off. Both of the suspects had dropped out of school at young ages. There were times in their lives that they were in the foster care system; much like Alecta, they had seen the dark side of the system. In contrast to Alecta, it almost seemed that neither woman ever had anyone that had fought _for_ them. They had been left to take care of themselves. After years of this life, they had finally broken; they had finally snapped. The only people they could count on other than themselves had been each other.

They were both petite women; one a wispy blonde with green eyes, the other had darker hair and stunning grey eyes. Both women were actually quite attractive, but completely emotionally unstable.

The final moments had come when they got the upper hand against Reid and Hotch. They had guns drawn on the men, having hit them over their heads with a 2x4 and a pipe….both men had been struck and then tumbled to the floor.

JJ had gone running in, with the others covering her, and engaged in some hand to hand with the brunette. The young woman had managed to take JJ down and was using the same pipe she had hit Hotch with to try and strangle JJ. Reid had managed to roll over and get his hands on a gun, rolling back onto his back and pointed at the woman that was currently trying to kill JJ and just fired….he kept firing until the woman dropped to the floor. Her friend, had been shot between the eyes by Rossi whenever she made a move to try to finish off Reid.

As the brunette fell to the ground she turned her head and looked at Reid for a moment, a calm demeanor coming over her face, and she said _'Thank You'_ to him.

The whole way back to the Nevada police department that they had been working from and the entire way back home to Quantico, Reid seemed upset by the fact that the young woman had thanked him for killing her. He was unusually quiet.

Upon landing back in Virginia Reid had arranged to ride home with Garcia and Morgan. Both Pen and Derek could tell something was troubling the boy, so they decided to head for a diner that was open 24 hours a day, considering that it was nearly 11 o'clock at night by the time they left the office, having to tie up loose ends with paper work.

Morgan got a bacon cheeseburger. Garcia got a BLT with some fries….even though she was a vegetarian, she did like a little bit of bacon from time to time, just for a little something different.

What Spencer ordered was actually quite telling. He got French toast with blackberry fruit topping, no whip cream…..telling the waitress 'the whip cream only gets in the way of the blackberries…."

Once the food came, Reid sat there and stared at his food for a minute chewing on his bottom lip, a lost look on his face.

Garcia took one of his hands in hers, 'Spencer, sweet heart, what's wrong?"

Without even looking up from the plate, mumbling more to himself than anyone else, 'She thanked me for killing her. I have never had anyone thank me for killing them."

Without missing a beat Garcia kept talking to him, 'Oh baby boy. Those poor women, although they did a lot of bad things to a lot of innocent people, they weren't always bad. Before the world broke them down, they were just two little girls that had nobody that loved them or cared for them. Finally, they turned into these people….But somewhere inside of them, those two little girls were still there just fighting for a chance to surface again….they never got that chance, they were buried under all those years of cruelty. She was probably just grateful that it was over, that she wouldn't have to wake up in the morning and hate herself any more for the things that she was doing."

"I know that, I do. I keep thinking….what if….what if….What if Alecta hadn't had Kevin when she was growing up? What if she had never met Lady Heather? She could have so easily turned out to be just like them. I mean, what if in some other scenario she had been one of the UNSUBS? That girl just reminded me of her _so much_. She was intelligent, despite not having finished school. Judging by some of the photos left behind at their hotel room, there was a side to her that was humorous. If you didn't know she was a murderer, she would have looked like almost any other woman on the street."

"Kid, you miss Alecta something awful don't you?"

Reid merely nodded, 'Yeah. I mean, she was one of the few that...I could start rambling and she would just let me, and she would actually listen. I guess I just keep picturing the flights home….Alecta and I, sitting together on the plane and picking apart some inane historical ideas that we have read or heard about before.

Since she's been gone the nightmares have been so much worse.

Sometimes, before she moved in with Hotch, after a case, if we couldn't sleep we would meet here. She always got the blackberry French toast. I was never very hungry at that time of night, but I would pick off of her plate, we'd share...and either continue our protracted discussion or move on to the next thing. Talking about all of these crazy ideas kept my thoughts from going back to the case….she kept me from worrying about whether we had done everything we could….stuff like that. The nightmares had all but vanished.

She was my friend; now she's gone and I don't know where."

"And now you can't eat the French toast?"

"I want to. I do. And I need to eat; but I'm afraid it won't taste the same or mean the same as it did before."

In all this time, Spencer had not looked up from the French toast in front of him…..it was like he was afraid if he did that it would vanish, too.

"Spencer, Spencer look at me please." Garcia requested.

Reid raised his eyes, glassy from the tears that had gathered at his melancholy thoughts.

Garcia reached out and cupped the boy's cheek, 'I just found out the other day, Alecta is in Istanbul."

"Does Hotch know?"

"Yes, he does."

"Then why hasn't he brought her back then?"

"I think he's afraid that she might still be angry with him. You know how things were when she left."

"But he's not even trying to get her back; he needs to go get her and bring her back to Quantico."

"Spencer…."

"No, Morgan. She's my friend, too. She's one of the few friends I have that accept me for ME. I don't have to change a thing about me to make her happy to know me. She's never made fun of me for anything, she's never tried to change who I am. I know Hotch misses her, I know he does. But I miss her to damn it! He needs to go get her and he needs to do it now."

"But Spencer…." Garcia was trying to help placate him.

Seeing the look on Garcia's face, 'She's in danger again isn't she?"

Morgan and Garcia both nodded.

"All the more reason for him to go to her. He has to do it now."

The friends continued to talk over things for another half hour, finally getting Reid to eat at least a little of the French toast that he'd ordered.

They got up and walked over to the register to pay their bills. Morgan was paying for his meal and for Garcia. Reid had decided to get his own. They kept chattering some more, not even paying attention to the man sitting in the second booth to the left of the register; he was leaned over reading a newspaper, trying to stay up on current events, or so he seemed.

"I know I'm probably just over reacting, I'm sure of it. But I still think that Hotch needs to go to Istanbul and bring her back to us." Reid was heard to say one last time as the three of them made their way over to the exit.

Finally looking up from his newspaper the large blonde haired man looked in the direction that the three friends had taken.

"_**I couldn't agree more Dr. Reid. I couldn't agree more."**_ The stranger mumbled under his breath as he got up to leave, not altogether following the friends out into the parking lot. He went to his rented car and got in, he turned on the dome light and pulled out a map and a small note pad, to make it look as if he was merely a tourist. He watched as the three friends piled into a dark SUV and began to drive away. He didn't have to follow them. He knew where they all lived. He only had to bide his time and wait.

**Post AN: So that chapter quite literally fell out. I think I managed to write this in just a couple hours or so. I thought since most of my work has seemed to center around Hotch and Alecta, with a splash of Morgan and Garcia tossed in for good measure that it was high time to get an opinion from someone else for a change. And who better to give you a piece of his mind than the huge brained Dr. Reid? Lemme know peeps, the usual. **


	37. Chapter 37

**Chapter 37**

**All I own is debt and OC's.**

Yuri saw the three friends drive off; he followed them to an apartment building. All three got out; the dark skinned man that he had come to know as Agent Morgan had an arm wrapped around Penelope's waist as they walked side by side. He could hear Agent Morgan talking to young Dr. Reid.

"You're staying with us tonight. We have the room to spare. Don't worry; we just don't want you to be by yourself right now…"

"Morgan I'm a grown man, regardless of what everyone thinks."

"Yes. We know that. But you're so upset. You've been lonelier than anybody understood. Please, Reid, stay with us; at least just for tonight." Garcia looked at Reid with big doe eyes, pouring it on thick; she knew he'd never be able to say no.

Reid merely nodded; he was too tired to argue really.

"Wait here; I'll grab your bag from the truck." Morgan ran back to the SUV and grabbed the boy's bag and jogged back over to Penelope and Spencer.

"Here ya go pretty boy."

Pen and Reid waited for Morgan to get the door unlocked, letting Pen go in first, turning the light on in the living room as she went.

"Ok, Reid. The guest room is down the hall on the right. You have your own bathroom, so you can get set up."

"I'll get the sheets for your bed out of the closet and help you get the bed made boy wonder. Are you gonna want a blanket at all?"

"No Pen, the comforter that is there will be enough. Thanks."

"You're welcome baby." Garcia made her way down the hall to the linen closet to get the sheets and pillow cases. Reid made his way to the bedroom to set his bag down and get his toothbrush and toothpaste out of it.

"Garcia, before we get started, I'm going to go ahead and change and brush my teeth."

"Go ahead, I'll wait."

Garcia sat on the sofa in Morgan's living room, Derek sat down beside her.

"Poor little genius; everybody has been so worried about Hotch's state of mind lately and we haven't thought about the rest of our team."

"Yeah tell me about it baby. But it's been easy to over-look with the way that Hotch has been acting. I half expected to have him put on leave for sure. Somebody must owe Rossi big time."

"It's Rossi, of course they do baby."

Garcia saw Reid come out of the bathroom and make his way down the hall towards the guest room and she got up to follow him. They got the bed made and Reid went ahead and climbed in; he was getting comfortable and Garcia was making her way to the door to leave the room and let him get to sleep.

"Wait. Garcia?"

"Yeah, Spencer?" Garcia walked back over and sat on the edge of the bed looking at the young man; Reid was leaning against the headboard.

"You know her better than anyone else on the team….."

"That's relative. Nobody really ever knows much about Alecta. We all just know bits and pieces that she lets us know."

"Well still….is it likely she would ever come back….to Quantico I mean? At all? She can't just leave us."

"Honey I don't know. Right now she is a hell of a lot of trouble. And she's still so…."

"Mad?"

"No. Hurt….maybe a little mad, but more hurt. She isn't the kind that accepts change well. She doesn't do well accepting new people into her life. She's been screwed so many times she's trigger shy, I guess you could say. And she really started believing that Hotch loved her. She really began to feel like she finally belonged somewhere….."

"She does….belong somewhere, I mean. She belongs here, in Quantico, with us. With Hotch, even though he's being kind of a douche bag right now. What kind of trouble is she into?"

Garcia took a deep breath, weighing her options.

"Please, tell me."

"When she left she went to Ireland to bury the girls…."

"Yeah, that we knew was bound to happen."

"After Ireland she was going to take the kids to Russia to see her in-laws. When she got off the plane, somebody started shooting at her and the kids."

"Who would…."

"What I'm about to tell you _does not_ leave this apartment. Derek knows, but Hotch doesn't; and for now, that's how it has to stay until I can figure out what the hell is going on….."

"Pen, what is it?"

"Immogene, when she called me, she told me that she had caught the shooters in her sights. She killed one of them, winged the other….."

"Who Pen?"

"Yuri and his brother Sergei."

"But why?"

"That's what I am trying to dig and find out. I have no clue what would bring Yuri to this all of the sudden. I can't imagine Impatiev giving the order. And the traffickers are dead; at least the ones that are pertinent anyway."

"Look into the politics of the area of Russia that Impatiev and the brothers are from. It might have something to do with that."

"I may have to try that. Thanks for the idea. But I am just trying to figure out how that would have anything to do with Alecta."

"Well it would take a piece of research. But, if the unrest is still going on between two different sides like it was in years past….Do you remember when Impatiev talked about his sister's death, that the people of his village were having issues with some other…..I think he said it was Serbs? And he explained how close he had been to his sister. And then when he first saw Alecta, he told us it was like seeing a ghost…that she looked so much like his deceased sister. He assigned Yuri to protect her.

What if Yuri isn't who he presents himself to be? He may not even actually be Russian; his family could be from somewhere else…..Serbia for instance. And if that's the case, whatever hatred is bubbling between the two nations….I'm not saying this has anything to do with what he's after. But, I don't know another explanation off the top of my head."

"No, you've given me a lot to think about. I will have to try this angle. Would you care to help me? I mean, you can help me read whatever material I come across as well as study up on the political issues that may be at play."

"If it will help bring her home to us any faster….then, hell yes! I'll help. I need her back just because she's one of the best friends I ever had. You need her back for much the same reason. Rossi needs her back because she's like the daughter he never had-and her mother has been just all upset over the whole thing. I'm not sure what magic Rossi has worked to keep her from messing Hotch up. Should we go to his house and check it out? Mrs. King doesn't seem the tame type. I mean, she's Lex's mom.

Hotch needs her back because otherwise could you see the headlines:' **Former FBI Agent arrested for spree killing!**'"

"Yeah, really. Well, get some sleep G-man; we can think about this tomorrow some more."

"Thanks Garcia."

"Don't mention it. We all miss her. Just let us know if anything else is bothering you, ok."

Reid nodded in the affirmative as he got himself situated in the bed, pulling the covers up to about his hips. He grasped the medallion hanging from around his neck, running his thumb and forefinger across it.

"You better know what you're doing old girl." He mumbled just before falling asleep.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

By 9 a.m. the next morning, Selim and the others had Alecta and the babies packed up and were headed for the safety of the fortress, Rumelihisarı. Though Alecta had stopped here briefly around the time she had Sofie and Emma she hadn't stayed long, which was a pity. This was one of her favorite places in the world. Watching the sunset over the Bosphorus River from the battlements….it wasn't to be missed. It was a sight that had moved her for centuries, since she began her partnership with the Sultan. Sometimes if she closed her eyes and cleared her mind she could still hear him as they walked the halls and made plans.

These days the cover story was that the Fortress was a museum, among other things. This meant that people could visit it, but only certain days and hours…..there were limitations. This allowed Alecta and her friends to hide everything they did right under people's noses. The government gave them carte blanche.

The night before, Selim had called a friend that worked at the fortress as a 'guide' to let him know they were coming and the basics of the situations. When they arrived there signs had been posted about construction work that was being done, therefore the Fortress was temporarily closed to the public.

"Clever, clever devil." Selim said with some mirth as he clapped his friend on the back. Really, Tokar was not a guide, per se. Technically he was; his function within the grand scheme of things was to lead the tourist away from the delicate secrets of the inner sanctum. And there was really nobody better suited for the job. Tokar was as bad as Reid when he had to spiel some bull-shit babble to mislead a person.

Alecta was escorted into one of the towers; her room was large and overlooked the river. There was enough room here that the babies could be placed in the room with her. This would make it easier to protect them if they are all together. Besides, she hated the idea of being separated from them. So much could happen.

The rest of her children had rooms in the tower as well, some on the same floor, Rachel was one floor below. Alecta had watched her babies had been placed in their cribs; then Cossette and Ivory left, shutting the bedroom door behind them. Everyone wanted to give her some time alone with the babies. She walked over to the first crib, the one that held the eldest of the two infant girls.

"I think I will call you Devika Renee. Kong sometimes calls me 'Devika'. You aren't old enough to care yet, but it means 'little goddess' in Sanskrit; and Renee is said to mean 'rebirth'. I'll explain it when you're older if you need me to." She scooped the baby up that had been watching her carefully, blinking slowly, and taking in the new surroundings. Alecta checked the diaper, it was messy, so she decided there was no time like the present to get acquainted with her new babies.

As she unwrapped the blanket from around her little girl, the baby began to swing her arms and legs a bit, trying to get a feel for being in the outside world already.

"As a nickname, until you and your sisters get used to saying your name, I think we can call you Vika for short. Well, that's what I will call you anyway."

Just like her twin sister, Vika's hair stood straight up on end, and there was a lot of it.

"I have always heard that when the baby's hair is like yours that it means it's going to be thick _and_ curly…..so your hair will probably be like mine when you're older. I'll have to show you a picture someday and let you see what you think."

Alecta kept babbling right on, she knew that most newborns didn't have the capacity to really focus that long on any one thing and that they were too busy trying to take in all of their surroundings. But when she looked down at her baby girl, the child was focused solely on her mother; her large brown eyes were locked on Alecta's. Vika, only 24 hours old was trying to figure out how to reach up and grab for her mother's hair.

"You _do_ understand me don't you?" Alecta tickled the baby's tummy a little which earned her a small grin from the baby and some strange sort of half laugh, like the baby was trying to let her know that it did indeed tickle…..but being only a day old, Vika was limited in what she could do.

"We'll figure it all out later; time for me to change your sister."

Alecta had wiped the baby's bottom and grabbed some powder to sift into the diaper, just a touch…..and she then folded the diaper onto the baby and fastened it properly; wrapping the blanket back up around the baby a bit, she laid Vika back into her little crib with a pacifier. Next she picked up her other newborn daughter.

"Me thinks we will call you Leta, it means 'the hidden one'…..I think it's appropriate, since you were hiding behind your brother and sister don't you?"

Just like the other baby, this one let out almost a half giggle, her arms swinging in the air excitedly.

"Your middle name will be Marie, for my friend, Mrs. 'Ouisa, her middle name as Marie. You'd like her. She's super nice. I'll have to take you there someday when…..when all of this mess has calmed down. I think you will like your Uncle Kevin….he's Mrs. 'Ouisa's son….and his daddy Mr. Dan'el. They are awesome. I love them so. And I know that Ouisa and Dan'el will love the three of you like you are their own grandkids. That will be nice. Since your biological dad isn't around anymore, and I never knew his family to speak of…..Aaron's parents are gone. All you have left is my mother and Kevin's parents. Well, and Agent Rossi. He and momma have a thing going…..Anyway, clean butt, happy baby. It's your brother's turn."

She wrapped Leta in her little blanket and set her back in her crib; next she turned to pick up her baby boy.

"You, my darling boy….I am naming you Michael, after a dear friend that I have had for ages, seems like forever. And then the middle name is going to be Aaron. I'm still mad at him a little bit….I know that he was only upset over the challenge to the safety of his child. I know that is what was behind the awful things he said to me. And perhaps on some level he was right to be a little angry. But I'm still mad."

Watching little Michael try to make a grab for the medallion hanging around her neck, she leaned in to kiss his little forehead; she wrapped him in his blanket, leaving his arms free to flail around some more if he chose to. Holding him snuggly she walked over to the window that looked out onto the river.

"Michael, this river….the Bosphorus….it's seen a lot. There's so much you and you sisters don't understand right now. But, all you need to know right now is, here we will be protected better than any other spot on earth. Did you know that his Gloriousness, Sultan Mehmed II built this place? Yeah, centuries ago….I watched them, from the other bank; watched every stone be slid into place. I know this fortress like the back of my hand. Ever since I did that thing for the Sultan, he swore to always protect me and anyone that I cared about, and that means you."

Alecta looked down at him, he was studying her just like his sisters had.

"The three of you are just going to be too smart for your own good aren't you?"

There were some baby gurgles.

"Why not, the others are." Walking back over to his little crib she raised him to her a bit and placed a kiss on his chubby little cheek. His hair was blonder; his eyes were a deep ocean blue. He looked quite a bit like her mother and both of her grandmothers really…..the lighter hair, the blue eyes. Yep, he was a throw-back baby; her throw-back baby. She squeezed him gently before placing him in his crib with his pacifier in his mouth as well. The babies had been fed on the way to the fortress, so they would be good for another two hours or so.

Alecta walked back over to the window and looked out onto the Bosphorus River, watching the current, watching the day pass by.

Smiling out of the window, 'It's good to be home." With that she turned and made her way to the bed, lying down.

After lying there for about 10 minutes, she realized she couldn't relax. There was one more thing that she had to do before she could rest.

Alecta got back up, walking over to her bag; she found the burn phone that she kept in there. She began dialing the number she knew from heart, and then she waited for an answer.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Aaron Hotchner was in a meeting with Strauss and Rossi; they were in Strauss' office when his phone began to ring. Checking the caller ID, it showed up 'Private Caller'. He clicked for it to be ignored and went back to concentrating on what Strauss was trying to say. Mere seconds later his phone began ringing again and again, the caller ID showed 'Private Caller'.

"Excuse me ma'am, I need to take this." Hotch got up and stepped out of the office, into an alcove near a window in the hallway.

"Hotchner." He waited a moment for the person on the other end to respond.

He heard a slight sniffle, 'I'm sorry."

"Alecta?"

"I'm sorry Hotch."

"Sweetheart, sorry for what?"

"I hit you. I shouldn't have."

"You have nothing to apologize for. I was out of line with what I said; if you hadn't been there and done the things you did, there's no telling what could have happened to the kids. I was just afraid a bit I think."

"I was so angry at what you said. I just couldn't believe that it came out of your mouth….."

"I'm the one that is sorry, you have no idea."

"How's Jack?"

"I guess he's alright…He hasn't spoken to me since you left. He spends every weekend at Jessica's house. And when he is home he only sits out in the living room or dining room with me for meals. Otherwise, he stays in your cave, reading the books you left him….sleeping on the bed in there. He doesn't leave it unless he has to go to school. He's so angry at me…."

"I will try to call again tonight; can I talk to him then?"

"Yes, of course."

"I can't promise that I will be able to, I can try."

"Where are you now?"

"Hang on, give me a second….' Seeing the time, Alecta walked over to a different window on the tower, looking out, she could see part of Hagia Sophia in the distance. She snapped a picture and then sent it to his phone. Then she ran to another window, looking out of which she saw a minaret….at the top, one of the religious men were getting ready to call the faithful to their prayers. Just as he began his work, Alecta hit the record button on the memo app for her phone.

"I've sent you something that will help you find me."

Hotch got the sound recording first, that didn't really narrow it down much…..just somewhere in the Middle East, that was all he got from that. Then the picture she took came in; having known her as well as he did for the time that he'd had her, he'd know that building anywhere….Hagia Sophia.

"Istanbul?"

"Yes. Aaron there is something else…..The babies, they are here already. Do you want to see them?"

"Of course I do."

"One second, I'm going to video on this call." He waited while she did so. Both of their phones had the face to face option for calls. Once she had gotten it set up, she turned around and Hotch saw the face of one of the babies pop up in his screen.

"This is Devika Renee. Kong sometimes calls me Devika, it supposed to mean 'little goddess' and Renee means 'Rebirth' it seemed right.' Then she pans over to the boy, 'This is Michael….he has the blonde hair and blue eyes like my mother and grandmothers before her, so that's different….his middle name is A-Aaron."

She saw the look on his face, he was immensely happy with that, 'My name is Aaron Michael."

"You're kidding?"

"I cannot tell a lie."

"Well, that's great. I'm not done yet." She panned over one more time. "This little girl…."

"Triplets?"

"Let me make the introductions, she might get cranky."

Hotch apologized and smiled, 'Go ahead baby."

"This is Leta Marie. Leta stand for 'hidden one'….I picked it because she had been hidden by her brother and sister, and the doctor had totally missed her on the scans. And Marie is also Ouisa's middle name."

She gave Hotch a moment to digest all of this before she spoke again, 'I can't wait for you and Jack to meet them. So far, they've been wonderful babies."

"I will come out there just as soon as I possibly can."

"But Hotch, be careful. There's someone that…."

"I know, someone took shots at you when you were in Russia."

"Immogene called Pen to have her do research."

"Yep."

"I figured as much. She wanted a hacker that could get around any possible concerns over legality."

"I don't care about shooters and all of that; I will come to Istanbul as soon as possible."

"Whatever you say. Just please be careful, I've already buried enough people these past couple weeks. I don't want to go through that again anytime soon."

Hotch could hear the sadness that still lingered in her voice. "I will be careful, I promise."

"And listen to whatever Simon tells you…."

"I will…"

"Or Jack for that matter."

"What does Jack have to do with this?"

"You trust me?"

"Well yeah."

"Well then just pay attention….Listen to them."

"Alright. If it will get me to Istanbul faster and in one piece, then I will do whatever they say."

"Thank you my good man. Now, look, the babies are falling asleep; and I need to get some rest while I can. I just couldn't before I called you."

"Ok, well, I suppose I will let you go for that then." He chuckled, feeling 1,000 times light than he had in nearly a month.

"And you stop snapping at people and being a complete bear. I know how you can be. Hug Jack to death for me…you know if he lets you."

"Well if you are able to call us tonight, he should be fine. He's just missed you so damned much."

"And I miss him."

"I know." Hotch could hear her yawn, though she tried to stifle it. 'Go, get some rest. It's currently three against one now."

"Yep. Talk to ya later Aaron."

They disconnected the call. Hotch smiled and walked back into Strauss' office, still smiling.

"Agent Hotchner, I take it the phone call was satisfactory."

"Yes ma'am, quite so. Did I miss anything important?"

"Not as important as that phone call I wager,' Rossi grinned at him.

Hotch could not stop smiling to save his life. He just couldn't help it.

"Well, we're pretty much done here. The two of you can get back to work if you'd like; the faster you get it done, the faster you get to go home."

"Enough said Erin. Come on boy, let's get out of here."

Alecta had flopped out on the bed. This bed was always so comfortable, all pillowy and fluffy; and it was covered in Turkish style linens with the colors and patterns native to Istanbul. And it was covered in pillows to boot. When she fell back onto the bed, the linens were cool to the touch, which felt wonderful because of the heat of the day outside. She had left the window open so she could feel the breeze coming off of the Bosphorus and smell the scents of the local food carts and hear all there was to hear of the city. It was no time before Alecta drifted off to sleep. She had no worries about leaving the window open, there were Islamic religious symbols all around the room. Anything that had much demonic power to it at all wouldn't make it far.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

After having watched Agent Morgan, Dr. Reid, and Miss Garcia most of the night Yuri had gone back to his hotel room, getting a few hours of sleep. Tomorrow he would be taking a look at some of Agent Rossi's activities in the morning. When he had tired of that he'd see what Agent Jareau and Agent Prentiss got up to in the afternoon, about lunch time. He would save the evening for Agent Hotchner and his dear boy, Jack.

Before getting completely ready for bed, Yuri went over his gear again. Chloroform, duct tape, rope, fake passports for himself, his paperwork for the jet he was commandeering, gun and ammunition. It all seemed to be there.

With the check being done he laid down on the bed on his back staring at the ceiling.

"_Anyone that sides with the Russians has to die."_ He remembered his father saying as he slipped into a peaceful sleep.


	38. Chapter 38

**Chpt. 38**

"**What do we say to the Lord of Death?"  
"Not today." (George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones)**

"**She is one of God's women fashioned by His own hand to show us men and other women that there is a heaven where we can enter, and that its light can be here on earth." (Bram Stoker, Dracula)**

Hotch left Strauss' office, riding the elevator back to the correct floor for the BAU. As he exited the elevator and entered the bull-pen, Morgan looked up seeing the change in him already.

"Hotch, everything alright?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact. Things are better than they have been in weeks."

Morgan followed hot on Hotch's heels; yes, women were bad to gossip, that's common knowledge, so Morgan couldn't be blamed when he wanted to get one up on the females of the BAU.

Hotch was about to shut the door to his office, but realized that it would be next to impossible with Morgan coming through about the same time.

"That's what you're going to try to leave me with? _Things are better than they have been in weeks._ Really? Elaborate please."

Hotch was still grinning like a fool, 'Alecta….she called. They are in Istanbul. She's had the babies. I got to see them over video call; she let me see them….told me their names and everything." He pulled out his phone and showed Morgan the pictures he'd been able to save from the call.

"Hotch, I thought she was only supposed to have twins."

"Yes, well, the one little girl was hidden by the other two. She was an added bonus."

"How is she doing?"

"She's tired. She was telling me that she spent a couple of weeks in Ireland around the time she buried the girls, Moira and Cinnamon. She decided to take some time and just _do _Ireland; but she said she could never really relax, because she couldn't let go of the girls. Everywhere she went, something would remind her of them.

And then when she got to Russian and people start shooting at her….And then she said yesterday afternoon she had the babies, and then her friends have moved her to some fortress for protection. I don't know much about the fortress, but she says she loves it there. I told her that I plan on coming to see her as soon as I possibly can."

"Hotch…."

"Hot Stuff, can you come help me?" Garcia peeked around the door jamb of Hotch's office.

"Alright Baby Girl, I'll be right there."

"Now."

"Wait, what were you going to tell me?"

"Hotch, I have to borrow him for a second, please."

Hotch didn't fail to miss the guilty look on Garcia's face.

"Penelope."

Dropping her eyes to the floor, 'Yes, sir."

"What's going on?"

"I just really need Morgan's help."

"Ok; now, try the truth."

"I know who took the shots at Alecta in Russia."

"_**Who?"**_

"Boss man…."

Hotch was trying desperately to keep himself under control; one busted lip from Morgan was enough to remind him to watch his tone around Garcia. Pen must have noticed she was treading on thin ice.

"Fine. It was Sergei and Yuri."

"_**What?!"**_

"Alecta doesn't have a clue who it was. I only know because Immogene is a sniper, and she took shots at them….she saw them in her scope. She managed to kill Sergei, but only injured Yuri. She's had me digging around for any information as to _Why_ they would do this….considering it is sooo out of character for what we have seen of them."

"Where is Yuri now?"

"Sir, I don't know. I've been merely focusing on the background information and other things like that. Immogene has someone else that she knows looking into his current location."

"You call her and tell her I want to know what the hell is going on. I've put one of her husbands in his grave for hurting her, I am not afraid to do it again."

"Y-Yes sir."

Realizing how….angry he had sounded, 'Garcia….thank you, and I'm sorry if I was out of line."

"Anytime sir, we all miss her."

Derek jumped in quickly, 'Especially Reid, he's been having a tough time of it."

"I'll check in with him and see how he is."

"Thanks Boss Man. It might make him feel a little bit better."

Garcia went back to her lair to work some more on getting some of the paperwork from previous cases digitized as well as doing some more digging on that dirt bag Yuri. Everyone knew how much Alecta had loved him. Other than Kevin, she had loved Yuri best. When they found him, pacifist that Garcia was, she would do her best to claw his eyeballs out for real. If Hotch didn't kill him she would. She was so sick of seeing people do this to Alecta…Alecta gave and gave until a normal person would just….break. Alecta would protect anybody at all cost. _She lost her sanity for God's sake, when she thought Yuri and the kids had died._ For all of that suffering that she went through, Garcia knew that somebody had to pay, and pay dearly.

She thought more about what Reid had said the night before about Yuri not being who or what everyone thought he was; and that was where she chose to begin. She took his full name as she knew it and she ran down everything that might be related to a credit card in his name, major purchases, phone bills, etc. If there was so much as a scrap of information, his name scribbled on some bar napkin, she was going to damn well find it.

The trick was, Yuri Vsevolodovich didn't exist beyond twenty years ago. Yuri was a man that was pushing 50, he was a few years older than Alecta, but yet his identity under that name didn't exist beyond 20 years ago….that would have been right around the time that he would have started working for Impatiev, well, approximately anyway. Using pictures that she had filched of Yuri, she ran facial recognition software and all sorts of searches on various databases…..Lucky she was the queen of the tech world and had a shit ton of computers to work from.

As her computers did the hard work, she placed a call to Immogene to tell her what she had found and how she had come to the idea in the first place.

"You tell that darling doctor friend of yours that I owe him a kiss when I see him."

"I don't think the blush would ever leave that boy's face. And he would likely never stop rambling and stuttering. Go for it, I would love to see him at a complete loss for words, in a positive way, for a change. Wait a second….."

"What is it Pen?"

"My babies are going freaking crazy. They have found Yuri's _real_ identity!"

"Who is he?"

"Slobodan Stanislav; apparently he is a Serbian national. His father is Viktor Stanislav, mother is Mirjana. I am getting more information on his father's activities. I will forward it to you, where can I reach you?"

"The fortress, Rumelihisarı. Do you have that information?"

Garcia double checked her contact list, "Yes; be waiting, I'm sending you everything as it comes to me."

"Thank you. Something about that name, Viktor Stanislav, is familiar to me, but I cannot place it just now. I will look at everything as soon as I get it."

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Immogene gave Pen a few minutes to send her the information about Viktor Stanislav and his sons, Slobodan and Grigor (who up to now had been known as Sergei). None of the information was good.

"Son of a Bitch!" Immogene reacted poorly when she read the list of things that Viktor Stanislav was alleged to have taken part in.

"What is it girl?" Mac came quickly to her side.

"I knew that I recognized this name! Viktor Stanislav is the man that murdered Impatiev's sister all those years ago!"

"What?"

"Ok, Yuri and Sergei took shots at us at the air strip in Russia…..Follow me here."

"Yes."

"I had Pen look up anything that she could find on the brothers. Yuri and Sergei Vsevlodovich didn't exist until about 20 years ago. Before that they were Slobodan and Grigo Stanislav; Serbian nationals, war criminals…..Their father is Viktor Stanislav also wanted on charges of war crimes. He started his _career_ with whatever rebel movement when he was in his late teens or early 20's; it was during this time that some of the rebels began moving into parts of Russia and dong their dead level best to exterminate the local population, a sort of ethnic cleansing. Impatiev would have been a boy, only about 10 at the time. And he watched what they did to his sister, Yasmina.

All this time, Alecta had thought he was this innocent little old Russian man, Kazimir Vsevlodovich."

Mac grabbed his cell phone to quickly place a call; he was trying to call Impatiev and warn him. He should have called him first thing after the shooting happened, but he had to deliver some babies.

"Damn!"

"Mac, what's wrong?"

"Impatiev's phone is ringing out, going to voice mail. I can't reach him."

"I'll try Istvan."

As Immogene made the call to Istvan, Mac began trying to call some of the other _associates _that they knew Impatiev to have.

"I can't get Istvan." Immogene sounded truly worried then. Istvan was like a human wall, some sort of gargoyle, which sat at the door to Impatiev's Tea Room. You didn't get to the old man unless you went through him. He was handsome in his way, much more friendly than his appearance let on, but when it came to the safety of those that he cared about he was all business. Istvan was not a man to be trifled with. If Impatiev wasn't responding to phone calls and neither was Istvan, this couldn't be good news.

Immgene was also a bit worried because Istvan was also her…._boyfriend_….she supposed you could call him. They had never made anything really solid. They had never labeled it. But neither one of them dated other people anymore. And she loved nothing better than seeing him happy. The fact that she couldn't reach him now, in such a bad time, worried her a bit.

_Damn it, damn it, damn it!_ Immogene had tried four times to get Istvan on the phone and nothing was working; and she knew for a fact that he would not ignore her call twice, let alone four times, not if he recognized her number.

Next she decided to call her other contact to find out where Yuri disappeared to after the shooting in Russia.

As she dialed that number, Mac told her that he hadn't been able to get ahold of anyone yet. The cell numbers were either ringing out, like Impatiev's or they were going straight to voice mail as if the phones had been turned off.

Immogene's friend from her days in MI-6 picked up the phone and she asked them what information they had for her and whatever it was couldn't be good.

"You have got to be kidding me!"

"No ma'am. He's in Quantico, Virginia. I can tell you what he bought recently from his credit card activity. There was a shovel, some rope, duct tape, a gas can, a few guns, some ammo…..Ma'am, I may be wrong, but I think he's about to start some shit."

"Thank you for the Intel, I'll get back to you if I need anything." With that Immogene quickly hung up her phone and called Simon.

"Immogene, to what do I owe this honor?"

"Simon, you have to get Hotch and the others the hell out of Quantico as soon as possible. Bring them here, to Rumelihisarı."

"What's going on?"

"Just bring them; I can explain everything once they are all here. I mean, Hotch, the rest of the team, their kids. Do it now. Please."

"But of course."

Simon got off the phone with Immogene and immediately dashed off to go to the federal building. Once he got there he encountered the security officers.

"I need to be escorted to the BAU please, I have something important to discuss with Agent Hotchner."

"Is he expecting you?"

"Well, no…."

"Then you will have to empty your pockets…."

"My good man I don't really have time for all of this." With that Simon raised his right hand to the man's left temple gently, and immediately the man sank to the floor, unconscious…not dead, just…..basically asleep. As the other security officers came closer, Simon turned to them opening his left hand and blowing on it as if he was blowing dust out of his palm, though there was nothing there. The rest of the security team that had come to him all collapsed as the first man did, in a deep sleep.

"Right…..now, where was I?" Simon looked over the booth looking for something that would list what floor the BAU might be on, finding it he made his way to the elevator. There were no further interruptions after the security guard.

Once on the correct floor, Simon looked around until he found the huge glass doors that lead to the bull-pen. Finding them he went in straightaway.

Agent Anderson was the first person to notice him; a man in the bull-pen without a security tag?

"Can I help you sir?"

"Yes, I need to speak with Agent Hotchner, immediately." Something in Simon's eyes caused Anderson to behave accordingly.

"His office is just up those stairs, his door is the one a little to the left."

"Thank you."

As Simon made his way towards the steps of the bull-pen, Morgan noticed him.

"Simon? What's going on?"

"Agent Morgan, I need you and the others to come with me now. I have to get Agent Hotchner and Agent Rossi. Is there somewhere we can talk privately? There is something the team should know."

"I'll get the others together in the conference room and meet you there."

"Very good. I will be there in moment."

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Aaron Hotchner had been in his office discussing with Rossi about some of his upcoming plans. He had enough sick time built up to choke an elephant; he intended to cash in part of that and take Jack with him to Istanbul to see Alecta.

Suddenly there was a knock at his office door, both Hotch and Rossi looked up, noticing Simon standing there.

"Simon, is there something wrong?"

Hotch had grown fond of the odd man; he was strange, but he seemed harmless enough. Having Simon around was one of the few things that still brought a smile to Jack's face very much at all.

"Yes, sir, actually there is. If the two of you would kindly join the others in the….the um….your conference room, I will explain there."

Hotch and Rossi both stood, exiting the office and leading Simon to the room. Once everyone was seated, Rossi broke the quiet….of course he did.

"What is it old man, what seems to be the problem?"

"Well as many of you are becoming aware, Alecta made a mad dash around the world to bury some friends, and visit some family. Once she made it to Russia, she and her little group were shot at by none other than her resurrected husband, Yuri and his brother Sergei. Immogene was able to get off enough of a good shot that she killed Sergei, but she was only able to wing Yuri a bit I'm afraid."

"Why would….?" Emily started.

"Please, bear with me. Immogene had your friend Penelope do some research for her. As it turns out Yuri isn't quite who he says he is."

Penelope began passing out copies of the information that she had gathered.

"You have got to be kidding me," was Morgan's only reply.

Rossi couldn't wrap his brain around it all.

"You mean to tell me that Viktor Stanislav is one of the worst war criminals since probably Hitler and his Nazis?"

"Yes, quite plainly. Yes. And as of right now we are having a devil of a time contacting Impatiev and Istvan. Neither one of them have been heard from in days. We can't get ahold of any of their known associates. As far as the two of them go, we are flying blind on where they are or if they are even in one piece."

"I can trace any cell or credit card activity for like the past two weeks and see what I turn up…" Penelope offered.

"Would you please? That would be ever so lovely of you." Everyone watched as Garcia jumped up and made a dash back to her lair to get started, calling Kevin in for an extra set of eyes. "Immogene has got her feelers out everywhere. Some of them are arresting the rest of Yuri's family, his parents included, as we speak. I must warn you, Alecta knows nothing of these developments. Immogene and Mac have not told her who the shooters were or anything else. This would crush her….just crush her.

She loved Yuri so desperately, and his family. She was quite fond of the old man. She adored him. And if she were to find out what he had done in his former life….and that he had been the one to kill Impatiev's sister…..and all this time she….

I've been sent here because Mac and Immogene actually fear for the safety of everyone here. I have called a few friends in for some help. You all have an hour and a half. You will go home, pack some clothes for you, your spouses, and your children. Provisions are being made for your pets. I am to collect you and take you to Istanbul; to Rumelihisari…It's a fortress on the mouth of the Bosphorus. It's where Alecta and her children are now. For our purposes, this is one of the safest places in the world for you now."

"Henry has school…."

"Madam, I hate to sound…No actually I don't. If you do not do this, Yuri will surely come after you or anyone on this team. He will do whatever is necessary to draw Alecta out. Trust me when I say that he has no problem killing women and children. He learned everything he knows from his father. And I hope you understand what I mean when I say that he would take his time with you."

"Is there anything else that you can tell us?" Prentiss asked.

Simon tossed some pictures on the table. They were pictures of some of the team.

"He's here, in Quantico, and he's been a busy boy."

Morgan looked at the pictures; some of them were taken the other night when Reid came home with him and Garcia. There were a couple of Rossi with Mrs. King, a few more of JJ and her family….some of Prentiss and the girls together. And the most chilling of all were a few of Hotch with Jack at soccer practice.

"I have little choice but to take you with me, don't you see? She cares for you all in one form or another and he will use that to his advantage. And I for one believe that she has lost entirely too much lately."

Hotch spoke for everyone, 'We'll come along, no arguments."

The others all nodded and agreed verbally. Even if they didn't care about their own personal safety, they had children or spouses to think about and none of _them_ had ever bargained for this.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Hotch was escorted by Simon himself first, to Jessica's house to pick up Jack, and then to his own home to pack a few things. He let Jessica know that he had to take Jack with him for at least a few days, that there was an emergency, and that they were going to meet up with Alecta while they were gone.

"Daddy, really! We're going to see her?"

Hotch was in the car, Simon riding shotgun, Jack in the back seat.

"Yes, buddy. She called earlier today and told me how much she missed you and me, mostly you….and I thought we could take a trip and go see her to make her feel better. I know how much you've missed her lately."

"I have daddy, I have. Hey, Mr. Simon, can you help me get some of my books packed? I need to take some that she can read to me….and some other things, too."

"Yes, Master Jack, I will help you."

"Thank you!"

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Once JJ got home she took a few brief minutes to explain to Will what was going on and what needed to happen now.

"Well let's go darlin','Will drawled.

"You're ok with this?"

"I have to be. It's not an ideal situation, but neither is just sittin' here waiting to die; I don't think I could bear seeing something happen to you or to Henry. If these people say this is the only way, then we need to go."

Suddenly she felt alright about things; together, they could deal with it all.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Prentiss had her own escort to her apartment. While she packed a few things, she called her mother to tell her she would be out of town and likely unreachable for a few days. One of the escorts promised that she would have Prentiss' cat, Sergio, taken care of.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Rossi arrived at his home; Mrs. King was sitting, curled up on the sectional sofa sketching. She was a remarkable amateur artist really, just like her mother before her, as well as her daughter and granddaughter. He explained that they had a line on where Alecta was and briefly hit on some of the details of what was happening and that they needed to get some things together so they could go be with Alecta now. Mrs. King for once didn't argue or ask questions, she simply rose from her seat all but dragging Rossi behind her up the stairs.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Garcia and Morgan had arrived at their apartment with their escorts and began packing immediately; once they were nearly finished, Morgan began turning over care of Clooney to one of their handlers.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

As Reid entered his apartment, a thought struck him.

"What about my mother? She's in a…..mental hospital in Las Vegas."

"Doctor Reid, we are aware. She has 24 hour protection until this is all over. Would you like to call her for a moment?"

"Could I? It might make me feel better about all of this."

"Certainly."

Reid picked up his cell phone and placed the call to the sanitarium. The nurse that answered the phone spoke with him briefly letting him know that today was one of his mother's good days. Then after their brief conversation the lady went to get his mother. Reid paced his apartment as he spoke with her for approximately five minutes.

It wasn't until he hung up that he began to question where his escort was and why he only received one when everyone else received two. As he thought, paranoia began to make the hairs on the back of his neck stand up.

Whipping out the gun that Alecta had given him in his little vampire hunting kit, he swung around coming face to face with one of his worst nightmares. In his path was a not so living, breathing example that sometime, science fails. What science could explain the demon standing in front of him?

Reid merely opened the front of his shirt, showing that he had Henna applied in various forms of religious idolatry covering the front of his torso; that was accompanied by a silver cross, an eye of Horus, the Star of David….all of these hung on a chain around his neck.

"I have been kidnapped, tortured, shot at….I have learned my lessons well. Please, try me. I have deadly accuracy."

As the creature advanced on him, he took quick aim and squeezed the trigger. And just like Reid predicted, the bullet found its mark; a small silver bullet right into the heart. But as the creature fell and hit the ground Reid put another bullet in the heart; double tap is never a bad idea.

Reid quickly packed a bag, scrambling to get out of his apartment quickly. Upon finishing the job he grabbed his suitcase and his messenger bag, a light jacket, his cell phone…dialing a number.

"Dave, I need you to pick me up on your way out to the airport. I'll be at the bus stop up the road. I'm tossing my cell so don't expect another call from this number." After hearing Dave's affirmative, Reid turned the phone off, taking out the SIM card, and tossing it in the trash as he passed by.

Spencer only had to wait about 10 minutes for Rossi to pull up with Mrs. King and their escort in the car, but it was the longest 10 minutes of his life. He kept looking around expecting someone to jump out of the wood work at him. When Rossi pulled up Reid popped the tailgate of the SUV and tossed his suitcase in, shutting the lid, and then jumped in the back seat quietly.

"So do you want to tell me what has you on edge Reid?"

"Not yet. Just drive Dave."

Right on time, everyone started gathering at the airstrip.

Simon spoke first, 'We will not be taking your usual company jet. They may be on the look-out for that."

"A military jet though?" Morgan questioned.

"You can thank Immogene for that. That girl…..She's called in a favor to our friend in Brunei." Simon continued to make his way onto the plane.

"What friend is that?" Reid asked off hand.

Without missing a beat, without stopping his progress Simon replied, 'The Sultan. He owed us a favor."

Simon was finally on the plane and went to the cockpit to give instructions to the pilot. Yet again, an old friend…..he was the one that flew Alecta around the world in the first place. The pilot was none other than Radar.

"Get us into Istanbul one more time; the safest way possible."

"Yes sir."

Radar came to the cabin of the plane and helped to shut the door. Within a matter of minutes he was back in the cockpit, getting that plane off of the ground.

"For a military plane this thing's awfully comfortable." Morgan pointed out.

Simon smiled. "Yes my friend, on the outside it looks like a military plane, but on the inside it is fit for a king. The Sultan has many friends; but he has just as many enemies. He doesn't want the world to know which plane is his personal transport. Which, in case you were wondering, this is it. You're welcome to anything you see, all that the Sultan asks is that you leave the jet in the same shape you found it in. You are in his care now. Please enjoy yourself on the flight, he gives us is blessings."

Simon sat back down, fastening his seatbelt, and taking out some old yellowed pages that he was intent on reading.

"Excuse me,' Prentiss interrupted.

"Yes, Agent Prentiss?"

"What sort of favor does a man like the Sultan of Brunei owe you that he would lend you his own private jet?"

"It seems the Crown Prince was in a bit of trouble a few years ago. He was being accused of a crime he did not commit. Alecta's friends proved his innocence. That is all."

"Alright." Prentiss leaned back in her own seat and was watching Reid. He'd been awfully quiet since arriving.

Getting back up, she walked over to where Hotch was sitting, and fastened a seat belt.

"What do you think is wrong with Reid?" She leaned in whispering to Hotch.

"I haven't got a clue; he has been acting strangely though. Once we're safely in the air I will try to have a word with him."

Emily finally dropped it. The flight was going to take nearly 13 hours, she decided to get comfortable. With this plane being fit for a king, the seats were larger and plusher, they reclined fully. They were nearly the size of a twin bed. Prentiss decided to just kick back and catch a few winks; God only knows what they would wind up having to face later.

Simon looked up from his paperwork about 30 minutes later to realize that they all were sleeping. He stood up and made his way to the cockpit and sat down.

"So, come to help me out old man?" Radar quirked an eyebrow at him quickly.

"I'm no older than you. I just came to see if there had been any disturbances so far."

"No, not so far. But we do have nearly 12 hours left, so get comfortable. I will get us there faster if possible. Hey, I was wondering…..The skinny kid…"

"Yes, what about him?"

"Does he have a clue?"

"That he's one of her own? No, not at this time. He knows more than the rest, but still very little."

"I just thought I'd ask. He ganked that creeper like a pro, did he not? Just for a second it reminded me of the good old days."

"Yes, he's quite good. And what good old days are you remembering? The different religions were fighting to survive. You had the new Christian faith trying to over-take some of the former pagan religions….the Druids, the Canaanite beliefs, the Akkadians and Sumerians…the old religions were fighting to hold on and the new one was fighting for its place in the world. Everyone hated each other, everyone was right, everyone was wrong.

And then, did you forget the last battle of Armageddon? You remember how that went? The only thing that stood between mankind and utter annihilation was the massacre of the Nephilim. And her kind was just barely able to accomplish that. It was just dumb luck that one of her attributes was as a war goddess in the old religions. If it wasn't for that the others would have stood practically no chance at all."

"Not to worry you or anything…But I had heard that some of those buggers still roam, the Nephilim I mean."

"It wouldn't surprise me in the least. They were rather like cockroaches. They were a plague on the earth. They would have seen mankind and 'our' kind all enslaved doing their bidding, or they would have exterminated us all."

"There were a few that were actually quite good. Some fought on our side."

"Yes, but, there had been precious few of them compared to the others. Now, I'm going back to the cabin. Let me know if something seems amiss."

"You got it."

Simon got up and made his way back into the cabin of the plane and retained his former seat, again pouring over his paperwork. A lot of what he was reading was really all the same sort of thing. It was all about how to kill someone like….Simon looked up from his reading scanning the cabin…..someone like the foreign diplomat. Centuries ago they thought they had done the job. One of their best was sent to do the job. She took his head clean off as was her skill. She single handedly saved the life of the Sultan, and as a consequence saved the Ottoman Empire. She never even broke a nail. Things were quiet for such a long time. There were only a few minor mentions of vampirism anywhere in the world….not like ancient times….it bordered on rampant back then. Or it could have just been the superstitious nature of the various cultures that seemed to make it more pronounced. But it seemed that the closer one got to the modern era, modern being a relative term, that the tales lessened. Perhaps that was symptom of education. More people began receiving better education; they didn't have to rely on myths and such things to explain the world around them. They now had science, logic, and reason. _But_…..but when those things failed them….when they came face to face with the myths and legends of the old days, where was all that logic and science at. Those friends scattered to the four winds and left you to defend yourself. At that time you had to fall back on something.

The papers that Simon read, although they were basically about the same subject they were in various languages…..some of them were considered 'dead' languages, being spoken by only a few thousand people in the entire world anymore….if that many.

He was looking for a sure fire way to get rid of this pestilence once and for all. He didn't want to think of this thing coming back in 600 more years. God knows where he'd be; and more to the point, where would she be? What if she traded it all in for good and settled down with this _man_? She would live the mortal life, dying like they all do. And, then who would fight the evil?

Simon couldn't shake the feeling that something was…..off. He couldn't put his finger on it at all. He put his papers away and tried to focus on each member of the team and Alecta's mother as only he can.

He didn't bother with Reid. Simon knew about Reid. _Everybody_ knew about Reid. The boy didn't have a wicked bone in his body.

Simon started with JJ and worked his way on down. By the time that he was done he had come to realize that any member of the group would jump in front of a bullet for the next member. That was good to know; it may not come down to it, but it was good to know all the same. He knew that Derek would die to protect any one of his team members, as would Hotch. Rossi was deep in thought about Alecta.

'_He really does love her like she was his own daughter.'_ Simon thought to himself. And he knew that Hotch was….to say Hotch was in love with Alecta would be the master piece of understatements; sort of like saying that grass is green or that Earth is round, although, Simon had a little trouble digesting that bit of information when he first heard it.

He read Mrs. King and realized that she was a perfect fit as Alecta's mother. She loved Alecta as only a mother could, and she had that quality in her that Alecta had that would allow her to fight to the death if all else failed.

Emily was harder to read, but that was only because she was suspicious of everyone by nature. She was no more evil in spirit than the rest of them. And Penelope was about as innocent as Reid was, with a few minor acceptions….._naughty pictures of Morgan hidden on her computer?_ Simon would let that one go. For one thing the naughty pictures were from a time before they started dating and they were mostly photo shopped….Morgan in chaps actually featured prominently in there. Simon could only chuckle quietly and shake his head a bit. It's not like anyone could blame the woman.

That boy Jack….it was no secret why Alecta loved him dearly. He reminded her of the 'lost boy', as they all referred to the baby that died. Both boys would be similar ages and quite similar in personality. And there were _closer_ ties between Jack and Alecta than that; although those ties were separated by quite a few centuries. Of course the same could really be said for Dr. Reid. And Henry was just the cutest little toe-headed boy that ever did live. Alecta loved him, too.

Alecta might be the only one that would cause problems. She got attached to _her_ mortals far too often. She became so…..the earliest known case of her attachment came in the old days. She helped a woman deliver a baby in a barn. She helped the young husband build a fire to keep the family warm. She guarded the small family. When the time came she got the family out of Bethlehem to safety. Periodically she kept a check on the boy and his progress; and then the day came that he was crucified. That was the day that Alecta became completely unmanageable. She went off the rails and nobody could stop her…if they had shot her with a cannon they could not have stopped her. Everyone involved had to pay for the pain she was going through. She hunted down the Romans, Judas, and Pontius Pilate. They were all tortured before they begged for death. The only people to escape that particular treatment were the holy men that had basically given the boy up. She couldn't physically hurt them; she would never ever hurt a man of God, even if she felt that it was deserved. That was not her place. But she could drive them completely insane. And at least that made her feel better for a moment.

She didn't form attachments that strong very often, but when she did she became extremely unpredictable, and when the ones that she loved were in danger, her temper had a tendency to remind you of C-4. The others would be fairly simple to control. But Alecta….she had nearly 8,000 years of being a loose cannon behind her. She knew all the tricks.

After reading the team and deciding that they were all above reproach, Simon was finally tired and closed his eyes for a moment or two. When he opened them again it was to see Radar's goofy grin looming over him.

"Come on grandpa, we're in Istanbul."

"Smart ass."

Simon got himself up and grabbed his carry-on bag.

"You don't have to be so touchy. But I understand, old people need their rest or they get grouchy."

"You might remember that I was robbed of my rest then, and stay at least four feet away from me since you seem hell bent on rubbing it in."

"Nah, old man. I intend to escort you to your destination. I know how the elderly are forgetful."

"So help me boy! You…"

"I'm going, I'm going."

Radar chuckled to himself as he walked ahead of Simon, carrying one of Simon's suitcases. Simon meanwhile had begun walking and was looking around, he was suspicious of their surroundings, it was too quiet; he didn't like it.

Radar noticed this, 'What's going on old man?"

Glaring at Radar, 'What do you hear?"

"Nothing, just a few planes coming in, commerce as usual. That's about it."

"Do you hear any birds or anything of that sort?"

Radar listened more closely, 'Now that you mention it, no, not a sound."

"Stay with the others; I've got the boy."

They jogged to catch up with the others. Simon moved to keep Jack next to him. Radar was walking beside the group, scanning the rooftops and other surroundings; Simon too was looking around to see if he could find anything.

"Uh, Radar, what seems to be the problem?"

"It's nothing Agent Morgan, just some precautionary measures. That's all."

Rossi glanced over, 'You're sure about that?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact. Why do you ask?"

"That person up ahead that is standing there staring at us might have something to say about it."

"Simon! You got the kid right?"

Simon whirled around, looking, 'Yeah."

"Get him out of here. Dr. Reid, come here please."

Without another word, Simon grabbed Jack and vanished.

"Jack!"

"Agent Hotchner, please trust me when I say that he is in safe hands. Simon will let no harm come to the boy."

"But, where did they go?"

"Agent Hotchner, everything will be revealed, all in due time. Now, would you please get down?"

"What are you…?"

"Duck!' Radar yelled. Hotch hit the ground and Radar fired in his general direction only a few mere feet into the air. The shot would have likely struck Aaron in the head had he been standing. As it was, the shot struck the creature in the vicinity of its heart, causing it to drop to the ground before turning to dust.

Reid had spun around, nearly forgetting about the one that had been ahead of them in their path, leading into the airport….an airport that was mysteriously enough deserted at this time.

"I don't see the other one."

"Don't look for it, feel it. What is it that you feel?"

Reid shut his eyes and took a deep breath, turning to his left before opening his eyes coming face to face with _it_. Reid grinned at the creature, a glimmer of mischief in his eyes, placing the gun barrel against the chest of the creature and pulled the trigger. The creature stumbled back and fell, turning to dust as well.

"Radar that was a neat trick…."

"Yeah, yeah, there's tons more. We have to go now."

JJ and Will had grabbed Henry and hit the deck when Radar had yelled for everybody to duck, covering his eyes and ears. Once it was safe, they both stood up, helping Henry up and dusted each other off.

"Is everybody alright?"

Rossi looked around, seeing that the rest of the small group was all ok, 'Yeah, we're all here."

"Then come on. We shouldn't linger. The thing with these devils is that you never know when they will make another attempt. We have to move while we can."

Radar continued to lead them through to the airport.

"We will have to be careful from here on out, at least until we make it to the fortress. Few out here, in the world, can be trusted. Once we get to the fortress there will be damned near nothing that can touch us."

Once they entered the airport they realized that there were now people wandering around like you expect to have at an airport. These people hadn't been there before; at least it seemed that way, like time stood still or something crazy like that. Prentiss was left sort of shaking her head as if trying to shake loose the cobwebs.

Once they made their way through the small crowded airport they stood there on the curb; Radar was looking around trying to pin point what he would use for transportation.

"Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding. We have a winner." Radar began running over to another one of those courier vans. 'I know this isn't ideal, maybe even a tad unsafe considering the little one…."

"Radar, after what we just saw, this is a walk in the park." Will drawled thickly.

"Well then get in my good man, and hold on to that child of yours." There were no actual seats in the van; there was only the cavernous space that was used to store boxes for transport. Speaking of which….

When Will first climbed into the back of the van he started tossing boxes out. Hotch jumped in and started helping him. Radar went up front to try to hotwire the thing. Rossi called shotgun claiming he was too damned old to be sitting curled up on the floor of the van that way. Radar allowed Mrs. King to sit up front with him and Rossi; the front seat was a bench style seat, and besides it would have been bad form to let the lady sit on the floor….she was Alecta's mom. JJ and Will had to sit in the back to keep an eye on their son. Hotch and Reid were actually safer in the back. The rear portion of the van was completely hidden, there were no windows except for the ones on the back doors.

Hotch, Reid, and Morgan sat on one side; Garcia sat on the other side with JJ, Will, and Henry. They made themselves as comfortable as possible.

"The ride to the fortress usually only takes about 30 minutes….if Istanbul traffic cooperates. I will try to make it faster than that. But make sure you hold on to the kid. And you two,' Radar pointed to Reid and Hotch,'be careful. I have my issues letting you sit up front,' he said looking at Rossi.

"Why? What did I do?"

"You did nothing wrong. It's just…..You are dear to her, as Agent Hotchner and the good Doctor. You sitting up front is just not safe. Keep your eyes open. Are you any good with one of these?" Radar handed him a sawed off shotgun.

"Young man, do you know anything about me?"

Radar grinned, 'Well, then old man it's time to earn your keep. I will need to focus on this bloody traffic. If anything comes near us that isn't a dog, bird, or homeless child trying to clean the windshield take it out. Although, if it is one of those kids, keep your eyes peeled. If they seem the least bit…."

"Rabid?"

"Sure, we'll say rabid…..double tap. This thing is loaded with silver ammo. And just in case,' Radar presented a small rectangular shaped box, 'a few extra rounds for good measure."

As it turned out they were able to make it the rest of the way to the fortress without any major incidents; although they weren't sure there for a few minutes. Once in a while Rossi or Radar would swear they could catch a glimpse of someone on the rooftop of a building when they were stalled in traffic. The first time that Rossi saw something like that and pointed it out to Radar, Radar told him that at that distance they were alright, but that if they came any closer to the vehicle to not hesitate to blast it.

They were driving along the river, coming up the long drive to the fortress. Mrs. King was seeing this all for the first time.

"I can see now why Alecta loves it here so much, it's beautiful."

"M'lady, there is a lot you are going to learn about Alecta in the coming days. Some of it will sound strange and may be difficult to comprehend….."

"Mr. Radar…."

"M'lady, you can call me Christopher, that's my real name."

"_Christopher_, I love my baby. For all intents and purposes, I came back from the dead for her…"

"You and a few others it seems." Radar interjected quickly.

"And there is nothing that can make me feel differently about my child."

As they pulled into the courtyard of the fortress, Radar had called ahead to have someone close the gate.

"Well, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Rumelihisari Castle. You may call it Rumeli for short if it's easier. Our lovely home was built between 1451 and 1452 by His Gloriousness, Sultan Mehmed II. His majesty extends every welcome to you all. You are free to do as you wish within the safety of the fortress. You will be given a tour of the place a little later, after we get you all settled and have some breakfast."

They begin walking into the castle, carrying their luggage, looking around. The entry huge; the doors were so large that what would have passed for door knobs would have been over your head. Everything about the place so far made you think of those enormous castles that you dream of as a child. As they entered that first room there was a large fire place, every team member plus a few could have stood inside the archway of that thing. The mantel piece was, like most everything else, carved from the local stone; the carving was quite artistically done and was lovely. Above that was hanging an old portrait of the Sultan.

"You see, he greets you even now. Alecta found this painting once….I forget now when, but it was always one of her favorites."

"Where is she, by the way?" Hotch asked the question that had been on his mind for hours.

"Hmmm, it's very nearly sunrise. She can be found on the battlements. She always did love to watch the sun rise over the Bosphorus. Although I must say, since they built that bloody bridge it has substantially marred the view. Everyone thinks it's such a wonder. If they remembered the way things used to be, they would hate that infernal thing as much as we do. And, also, she loves to watch as the Muezzin enters the Minaret to issue his Azan, or the morning call to prayer for the Muslims. While she stays in Istanbul, she never misses a morning."

"Where is the closest Minaret?" Reid questioned.

"A few hundred yards away. She can take in the sunrise and see her Muezzin all at the same time….they are old friends, she and her Muezzin. Although she herself is not of the Muslim faith, she does love to hear him perform the Azan. Most of them now use microphones and speakers to help it reach more people. But _our_ friend still does it the old way. And after each of the callings, they turn to each other in the distance and acknowledge one another with a slight bow. It makes her day.

You will learn that, for all that she might be strong and difficult…."

Rossi cut in, 'Please, she idles at difficult….."

"That much is true, but she is still a sentimental soul. She misses some of the old ways very much. And seeing him there reminds her that some things never change. Now, everyone, come with me, I will show you at least to your quarters for now. You will be able to get cleaned up for some breakfast and then get some rest. The grand tour will come later."

The team was shown to their rooms each had a wonderful view; some had views of the Bosphorus, and some had views of parts of Istanbul itself. Everybody got showers and changed their clothes, then they all slept for about two hours while breakfast was fixed.

Hotch had lain across his bed, with the intention of resting. But he couldn't make his mind shut off. For one thing, Alecta was within his grasp again. He entertained thoughts of handcuffing her to himself so she could never run from him like that again. And then his second thought, which made him feel like a horrible father for a second….Where was Jack?

Jumping up, suddenly filled with anticipation, Hotch made his way back down the steps of the tower that they were being housed in. He wound up in the large room they had first been shown, looking up at the painting of the Sultan. His nose was on the long side, a little narrow, and yet his eyes were somewhat wide set. This gave his face an open appearance. His eyes themselves appeared quite intelligent; this was a man that knew a great many secrets and was quite cunning in his own right. Hotch stared at it for just a moment, thinking about how much Alecta thought of the great Sultan, and even relied on him.

"You better not fail her." Hotch said to the painting as he walked away looking for Jack. He never noticed the mysterious man that stepped from the shadows of an alcove that was hidden behind the fire place a bit. There were alcoves on either side of the fire place; the alcoves were doorways to another area of the fortress. There were heavy drapes that usually were closed across the alcoves to hide the existence of the entrances. Today they were pulled slightly off to the side, allowing for freedom to move about the fortress. Radar was correct when he said the Sultan offered them every welcome.

The man that stepped forward out of the shadows had a long narrow nose, with slightly wide-set eyes that gave the illusion that he held a great many secrets. He watched as Aaron Hotchner walked away looking for his son.

"I do not intend to young Master Hotchner." The man said ever so quietly as he retreated back into the shadows.

**Post AN: So there's chapter 38. I finally found a decent cut off point. Yay me! I didn't think of any decent song lyrics that really suited me for this chapter, but I did find a couple nice quotes, one of which I have used before. Anyway lemme know what you think. **


	39. Chapter 39

**Chapter 39**

After Hotch stepped away from the portrait of the Sultan he went in search of his son. He had wandered the halls of the first floor of the fortress for what seemed like forever to him. He finally came upon a man he'd never met before.

"Ah, Master Aaron? You must be looking for your son. He's in the kitchen having his breakfast. Come, I'll show you."

"Yes. Thank you. Who might you be?"

"Oh, I'm Selim. I'm friends with Alecta."

"How long have you two known each other?"

Selim was facing forward, leading Hotch down the hall to the kitchen, therefore Hotch really didn't' see the smirk on Selim's face. "Oh we've known each other for _ages_."

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Dave was in his room, well the one he was sharing with Mrs. King. He had allowed her to take her shower first and was doing a bit of writing in his journal; a little something about this latest expedition….perhaps he would learn something along the way that he could use in his next book. The man just had no idea.

Coming out of the bathroom in her fresh change of clothes, 'Dave, that bathroom is immaculate. Holy crap, the tub is to die for."

"And now you sound like your daughter."

"Like that's a bad thing. But, no for real; there's a window behind the tub, you can look out over the water and the horizon. I mean…."

She continued to babble on about how great this place seemed to be so far while Rossi chuckled. She really was beginning to sound like Alecta, getting so carried away with her ideas.

"Ok, well, it's my turn anyway so I will get to see it for myself." He said as he passed her kissing her on her forehead which sort of threw her off. He had yet to kiss her at all. They hadn't really done anything about their relationship, or whatever it was. Sure he had been a total gentleman, always making sure she had everything she wanted or needed. But they had not defined what sort of relationship they had or wanted….and they had definitely not been physical at all, not that she didn't want to. Dave was about her age, maybe a little older, but not much. And God knows he was handsome with that dark hair and those eyes. And everybody always said '_Italians do it better'_; not that she would know a thing about that. And Alecta did adore him entirely. In the few conversations she had gotten to have with Alecta since their reunion, Alecta couldn't stop talking about how much she just loved Agent Rossi. Mrs. King got the impression that he was the dad that Alecta wished she could have had. But that was a two way street. Rossi adored Alecta right back; and it seemed as though she was the daughter he never had. It made Mrs. King so happy that Alecta had someone in her life that could be all the things that her own father hadn't been….someone that could show her that 'dads' weren't all evil devil spawn.

While Dave was getting his shower and handling his business in there, she decided to flop out on the bed. And there had never been a more comfortable bed. It was all plush with the choice of native materials. The colorful sheets and duvets; and all of those pillows, it was like falling onto a cloud. And the bed itself, the headboard and footboard, etc. were wooden and seemed to be carved from the very walls of the room itself. And the view from the bed was unbelievable. Through the window you could see the Istanbul skyline with the Hagia Sophia in the distance; and the colors that seemed to dance off the façade, the reds and golds….it was beautiful.

By the time Dave finished his shower, had gotten dressed, and come back out into the room he noticed that Rachel, Mrs. King, had fallen asleep.

He really loved her. She was something else. It amazed him how much like Alecta she really was, and yet how much of her own person she was. He had been wanting to see how things would move along between them but he hadn't wanted to push her. He knew for a fact that the only other man that she had ever had in her life had been Jake. She had been pushed to marry him at the age of 15 by her own father. And she had been about 21 when she 'died'. And she had been institutionalized ever since then and had not had any real contact with anyone at all until Reid managed to find her hidden away. Ever the gentleman, Dave grabbed a blanket and settled down on the divan that was along the wall, making himself comfortable. Before he had talked to Mrs. Rachel about things, he didn't want to push his luck, sleeping in the same bed would have to wait.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Will was getting Henry settled for a nap on the divan while JJ was getting a shower.

"Will, this place is great,' she announced as she came out of the bathroom.

"You haven't even seen it all yet. Did you see the size of this place when we drove up?"

"I don't need to see the rest of it. I could live in that bathroom."

"Women and their bathrooms."

"Shut up smarty-pants."

"Well, it's your turn with Henry. I have to get cleaned up while I have the chance."

While Will caught his shower, JJ went over to the divan and sat next to Henry, stroking his hair telling him a story to calm him further and cause him to drift off to sleep, his little eye lids growing heavier. Once he was asleep, JJ moved to the other end of the seat and opened the shutters on the window so she could see the view. You could see some of the city of Istanbul in the distance; the variegated heights of the buildings, most of them were only a few stories high. There was Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge, you could see part of that from the window. JJ wondered what Alecta might have to say about that. It reminded her of the Golden Gate Bridge or maybe even a little of the Brooklyn Bridge; it was a similar design. You could hear Istanbul come to life in the early morning. The men at the docks coming in from being out fishing before sunrise to bring in the freshest catch, the sounds of the women in the souq haggling over the prices of the goods, the water lapping at the edge of the land on the strait; JJ was beginning to understand what Alecta saw in the place.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Derek and Garcia had been shown to their room; to Derek it seemed as though Pen had been here before. She asked the person showing them to the room if they were getting the same room she'd had before.

"Ah, yes, that's right. You were here; it was a long time now, but I remember you now. Yes, this is your old room. Madam said that you should have it, seems like you really liked it before. She remembered."

"Thank you Rafiq."

"If you or Agent Morgan need any thin' let me know. I will do my best to get it for you."

"You got it. Thanks again."

With that Rafiq bowed as he walked backwards out of the door.

"So, Rafiq?"

"What about him D?"

Morgan quirked a brow at her.

"He's Rafiq. What's there to tell? He's one of Alecta's friends, I've known him for years. He's good people. Like Simon, Radar, Mac, and the fellas, he cannot be bought. His allegiances lie on one side only. If anyone tried to get him to change that at all, they'd come out better to just kill him."

Garcia sort of rubbed her stomach a little bit and shook her head slowly.

"What's wrong Baby Girl?"

"I just don't feel good right now." Pen began making her way to the bathroom, washing her face, thinking perhaps the stress of the day had caught up with her.

"Come lay down, we can worry about showers later."

Pen nodded her head and laid down on the bed on her left side, raising her left hand to her forehead, rubbing it.

"I feel like death warmed over."

"How long have you been having that feeling?"

"Aw, D…."

"Pen?"

"Grrr. About two days, off and on. I thought maybe it might have something to do with migraines, but my head hasn't really been hurting per se."

Morgan opened the door to the room and ran to the end of the hall looking for Rafiq.

"Where is he?"

Before Morgan could turn and go back into the room, 'You need me, sir?"

"Yes, Pen doesn't feel well. I need Mac to come here as soon as he can."

"I shall go fetch him right away, Agent Morgan."

"Rafiq, since you're a friend of Alecta's, you can call me Derek if you choose to."

"Yes sir, I will bear this in mind."

Rafiq took off running down the hall and made his way to find Mac and Selim.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~CM~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Hotch had been lead to his son who had indeed been sitting in the kitchen, eating breakfast. It seemed as though Jack had gotten turned on to French toast with blackberry topping; Hotch wondered sarcastically where he might have picked that up from.

"Jack, are you enjoying your breakfast?"

Jack emphatically nodded in the affirmative, 'Daddy, when are we gonna see Lex? She's here isn't she?"

"That's what I've been told son, but I don't know when we might see her. But go ahead and finish your breakfast; I want you to rest a bit before anything else crazy happens."

"Okay, if I have to."

But Hotch couldn't keep himself from wondering the same thing; _where on Earth is she?_

It only took Jack another 10 or 15 minutes to finish up his breakfast; it probably wouldn't have taken that long but the boy chattered on with some of the help that was in the kitchen that he had gotten to know, having arrived to the fortress before everyone else. After Jack finished, Hotch followed Jack back to his room, so he could get a feel for where his son would be in relation to himself.

"Jack, I have to ask you something."

"Yes daddy?"

"When Simon took you, it was so sudden. What happened?"

"I'm not really sure exactly. One minute we were at the airport with everyone else. And the next second we were here." Jack seemed to think for a second. 'Daddy, you know when you take a picture and the camera goes off and the flash blinks?"

"Yes."

"Well, it was like that. The light was _so_ bright, and then we were here. That's all I know for sure."

"Alright, well go in there, lie down and rest a little while. The way the past few days have been going, we could all do with some rest I think."

"Oh, ok."

Jack grudgingly went on into his room and climbed up in his bed, lying down and getting situated.

Hotch just chuckled a bit as he turned away. Simon seemed to have appeared beside of him without him noticing.

"Agent Hotchner…."

"Call me Aaron. If we are going to be thrown together like this, we should make the best of it right."

"_Aaron_, Alecta's room is just across the hall, right here. She wanted Master Jack to have his own room but requested he be close by should anything happen."

"Am I allowed to go in there?"

"Most likely, but I will have to check with Alecta first. The babies are being kept closely guarded in there; I wouldn't want any mishaps."

Hotch admitted that he had to agree with reason. Simon went on about his business telling Hotch he could feel free to explore around the fortress at his will. "And don't worry about getting lost, you're never far from someone that can point you in the right direction."

With that, Simon was off, Hotch having thanked him again.

Hotch turned and began exploring the rest of the fortress; he was really only buying time until he could see Alecta again.

As he round one particular corner, he nearly collided with her. Alecta had been coming down a staircase that wound its way up to the battlements one would assume; she had been out there all morning and had now come back down to make her way to her room. She wasn't really paying attention to much. She had so freaking much on her mind.

And then she plowed right into Aaron Hotchner.

Hotch stood staring at her for a moment. She was wearing a Sari in a bright shade of teal; with her hair and the paleness of her skin, it was a beautiful color on her. Even though she just had children, she didn't look like it. Whatever weight she had gained must have all been baby because there had been almost no real change to the way she looked as far as that goes. If anything she seemed a little pale, more than usual; not pale like fair skinned, staying out of the sun, pale, which she was anyway. But this was more like the kind of pale that one becomes when worn down by stress. There were dark shadows under her eyes that he didn't remember before. But he didn't care. It was her. That's all he needed to know.

Aaron immediately grabbed her, pulling her tightly to him, and enveloping her in a hearty bear hug.

"I missed you, too, Aaron."

"I have a ton of questions for you…."

"There's never been a doubt about that; I'm sure the others will have their own questions. I intend to answer as many of them as I can…."

She seemed to melt into the hug, like she was doing good to stand on her own two feet.

"But first, you need to get some rest. Come with me. You can sleep in my room." Hotch scooped her up bridal style and made his way back down the hall, before realizing he had no idea how to get back to his room. Alecta chuckled somewhat weakly and gave him directions, otherwise she kept one arm around his neck as he carried her.

Once they got back into his room, he placed her down on the bed, she fell asleep almost instantly; Hotch kicked off his shoes, lining them up under the edge of the bed and crawled in beside her, pulling the cover up on both of them. He wrapped his arms around her and she turned over so that's he was facing him as she slept and draped an arm over his waist.

He had a lot of questions and a lot of news for her; it could wait, she was dead on her feet currently, everything else could wait. Hotch laid there, thinking. He thought about when they first bumped into each other in the hall. For a woman that had just had triplets she seemed too thin; and her eyes seemed so sad. And right now she was sleeping like a woman that hadn't slept in days and days. Well, then, it was a good thing he was here. He was going to make her talk to him if he had to.

Three hours later she finally started to stir. "Did you sleep well?" Hotch asked her as she sat up, looking around.

"Indeed I did.' She rubbed her forehead like she couldn't believe how much she'd slept.

"How long has it been since you've had a decent night's sleep?"

"Weeks." She jumped up and ran across the bed, jumping down, 'What time is it?"

"It's a little after 10 AM."

"Oh crap,' she took off running out the room, her sari flowing around her.

"Where are you going?"

"Meeting. Gonna be late, keep up old man."

Alecta was racing down the hall, Hotch scrambling to keep up.

"What kind of meeting are you going to be late for? Slow down." They were coming to the stairs.

"No time, come on."

They raced down the stairs, around a corner, winding up in the entry hall where they had all first come in that morning. Alecta kept going until she reached the drapes that were on the right side of the expansive fire place; she swept the drape aside, opening the door behind it.

"Come, come." She grabbed him by the front of his shirt like she had before, tugging him into the room with her. They let the door shut automatically behind them as they went further into a room that was….

The floor looked like one big map of the known world, well known as it was centuries ago. There were large carved pieces that looked like giant chess pieces that were placed sporadically over that map. There were other maps all along the wall, various paintings littered about, books lined every shelf, some scrolls and loose papers…ironically it all reminded him of Alecta's cave.

"Fatih,' Hotch was shaken out of his thoughts by Alecta running to the man in the room that he hadn't even noticed, standing by one of the extremely tall book cases; it had to be nearly 30 feet high, from floor to ceiling. He had a large folio in his hands that he promptly laid on a table and turned to Alecta, his face lighting up as though seeing an old friend.

"Little one,' he held his arms out and she bounded into them, hugging him as he hugged her.

Hotch cleared his throat slightly, 'oh, Aaron,' Alecta stated as she kept a hold on the man, turning her head to see Aaron standing there.

"And who is your friend?"

Alecta disentangled herself from the man she was currently hugging. Hotch began to take in his features. He was a man who was about as tall as Hotch himself; a long, nearly aquiline nose, eyes that sat somewhat far apart. He had a look in his eye of a man that knew many secrets. This face was familiar, all too familiar.

"Aaron, meet my friend, the Fatih. This is Sultan Mehmet II." She looked at Hotch with mischief in her eyes, 'But then I suppose that you already had that figured out."

**Post AN: Well that's gonna do it for Chapter 39. Next chapter, perhaps….Hotch will get some questions answered, the team will get shown around the fortress (as well as the rest of them meeting Alecta's friend). We will hear more about what might have happened to Istvan and Impatiev, there may be some disturbance in the force field from a rumpled diplomat…..These are goals I have for the next chapter, and in some cases the one after that. We just have to see how these things fall out. I had originally planned to end this one a couple hundred words sooner, but was able to do better after a decent night's sleep, so we'll see what happens.**


	40. Chapter 40

**Chpt 40**

**Holy crap, 40 chapters now. Have they been worth it? That is the question. Just for the plain and simple fact that doing this keeps me from totally flipping my lid sometimes, I think so. Since I don't really have any friends outside of the ones I talk to on FB (most of which I've met through the FF world), I have written this so that, in small ways, each of my OC's grow to almost be my friends; allowing me to get out ideas and thoughts that otherwise would rot away in the cobwebs of my mind, and I have a shit ton of cobwebs to be sure. Anyway, here's hoping that other people like what I'm doing so far.**

**And so nobody gets their undies in a twist, I don't own anything CM-no titles, no CM characters…just a dead horse worth of debt and my OC's.**

"**The truth is, everyone is going to hurt you. You just got to find the ones worth suffering for." (Bob Marley)**

"**There is nothing I would not do for those who are really my friends. I have no notion of loving people by halves, it is not my nature." (Jane Austen, Northanger Abbey)**

"**Only a true best friend can protect you from your immortal enemies." (Richelle Mead, Vampire Academy)**

"**It gives me strength to have somebody to fight for; I can never fight for myself, but, for others, I can kill." (Emilie Autumn, The Asylum for Wayward Victorian Girls)**

Hotch wasn't sure of what to make of this newest bit of information. Mehmed could tell that he was having problems digesting the idea.

"I am not like _him_, if that's what you are worried about. I have nothing in common with that….that _**devil**_."

"How….? I don't even know what questions to begin to ask."

"That's good Master Hotchner; you will see more things to test your incredulity later, better save the questions for when you've seen all the world has to test you with. Perhaps then I will be able to answer you properly."

"Now, Mehmed….what should we do first? I know there will need to be some intelligence gathering done."

"Yes. I need for you to go to that café; you know the one….in the heart of the old quarter of the city. The one owned by the Boras. I've been having Savas Bora keeping his ear to the streets as you would say."

"Alright, then that is where I will start; I want to see his wife Nesrin anyway, I heard she is expecting their first child…."

"A son at that." Mehmed smiled as he thought about the idea of being able to continue the Crescent Guard for yet another generation.

"Yes, there are too few sons being born lately."

"And that is why the daughters have started being recruited; although, in some cases, one of the daughters would be more dangerous than 100 of my men. So I suppose that is the trade-off. Now be on your way, but pack accordingly."

"Am I ever unprepared?"

"Bissalama."

"Shokrun." Alecta turned to walk out of the room, 'Come Aaron, we have to get ready."

She took off down the hall, not running this time, but at a brisk pace nonetheless. Hotch followed her to her room; she walked behind the changing screen and got out of the sari and pulled on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt; then she pulled on an uber comfortable pair of hiking boots. Braiding her hair she stepped out from behind the screen.

"Aaron, are those shoes fairly comfortable?"

"Why?"

Alecta arched an eyebrow at him, 'Yes, pretty much so."

"You're sure?"

"Lex…."

"Fine, I had to ask. Where we are going, I don't know what is in store for us, and we may be on our feet for a while and I just want to make sure you are prepared."

"I think I am alright."

"Ok then." With that she walked out of her room and made her way back down the stairs. This time they didn't go to the room that was built behind the fireplace. They made their way to a room that, for sake of argument was an armory of sorts. Alecta grabbed a bag and shoved two high powered flashlights into it as well as a stake and three boxes of silver ammunition; next she went over to a cabinet, opening the doors and grabbed several talisman and a few religious medallions. After making sure they were packed she grabbed a few lighters and a couple boxes of matches. Then she packed a few small rags.

"Rags?"

"You never know…." She kept packing things. There were a couple of squirt bottles with lids.

Seeing Hotch's questioning face, 'Gasoline….for emergencies." Then she packed a load of first aid items.

Walking over to yet another cabinet, she grabbed a sawed-off shotgun and handed it to Hotch along with a few boxes of his own ammo, 'Don't miss."

"Do I ever?"

"Now, more than ever, every bullet counts. These damned things aren't so easy to come by." She continued to pack some more gear; she grabbed a small bible and a small version of the Quran.

"You never know what you will be running into."

"What, no travel size of the Egyptian Book of the Dead?"

"Smart ass, I wrote it. I don't need to carry that one around. I have the words memorized."

"Wrote….What?"

"No time. We have to go and talk to Savas and Nesrin. And sundown starts around say, 7 PM in these parts this time of year."

"When has it mattered to that stranger what time of day it was?"

"Touché. And thank you for not mentioning his name out loud. You're learning. It's dangerous enough in daylight, but it's even worse at night. I don't want to be caught out there then. I don't mind fighting them so bad as long as I have chance at seeing them coming."

Hotch watched her as she ticked off items on her fingertips to make sure she remembered everything.

"Ooh! I almost jinxed the whole damned thing." She reached over and grabbed two vampire hunting kits and some prayer beads. "I think we're ready."

"All of this just to go to a café and talk to some friends?"

"It's not so much the visit with old friends as it is what we are talking about. That bastard has eyes and ears everywhere in this city, at least as many as we have. He will know we are after him…."

"I haven't even seen him yet; although we have seen some of his _friends_."

"Well, all that means is that papa bear isn't too far behind. Likely he is only stirring up trouble somewhere else to divide our attention. I hate his welcoming committee, they're even creepier than he is….they make my skin crawl."

"They're worse than him?"

"Yes. Come with me.' Hotch follows her out of the armory going towards the door. 'You see, our 'friend'…he's always been evil, well at least since his teen years. Most of the people that he recruits as his minions; they used to be normal people, like a librarian. I even knew of him once to turn a school teacher of an elementary class. She had time to get around to some of the children. She killed some of them, and turned others. That was a hard case. What are you supposed to do in that situation? These were innocent children, somebody's son or daughter, and they were like five or six. But, they had to be treated like all the rest of their kind. It was a time of great sorrow; children dying that way….and then the families were too scared to have more for a long time. Some families died out for lack of children to carry them on. In one generation entire families were wiped out due to fear. So you see, the fact that so many of his kind were normal people with normal lives, and he turns them into these….monsters….it disturbs me that there is never any trace of the person you once knew."

They walked until they got to the street, Alecta hailed a cab, giving the driver the address.

"Are you sure about taking a cab?" Hotch whispered to her.

"I'm not walking half way across Istanbul to get to a café. Besides, with what we have in the bag….we're safe." She looked at him mischievously.

The drive to the café took 30 minutes. Alecta paid the driver and sent him on his way with a hope that he would have safe journeys. They checked out a few little vendors that were close to the café, selling fabric and dishes; all sorts of things that could catch your eye.

"If we weren't here on business, you'd be my pack mule right about now." Alecta assured him.

"Well, I am toting the bag,' he reminded her.

"It could be worse. Let's go see a man about some lunch."

Alecta and Aaron walked into the café. It was dimly lit; after being in the bright sun of Istanbul, it seemed even more so. But it was cool inside and it looked quite comfortable; divans along the walls, all sorts of cushions as well to make the patron more at ease. The free standing tables were of a native wood and carved by local craftsmen; the seat covers were created from local textiles. This place was every inch your stereotypical Middle Eastern café.

There was a very pregnant woman, roughly the same stature as Alecta, wandering around attending to the guests of the establishment. When she looked up and saw Alecta, her face lit up exquisitely.

"My sister!" the lady came over quickly to envelope Alecta into a tight hug. 'Yalla Savas, we have a visitor."

"My dear we run a café, everyone is a…..Is it really you? We haven't seen you since you had the twins, years ago."

"Hello Savas, I missed you, too."

"Sit, eat a while. When the patrons clear out we will talk of other things."

With that the man went blustering back into the kitchen barking orders at the cooks to make their best dishes. Nesrin showed them to what had to be the best seat in the house. There was a bank of divans, cushions of all colors and patterns, a long table in front of it, a silken table cloth with a simple pattern on it.

"Sit, sit. I will get you some drink." Nesrin took off as fast as a pregnant woman can waddle and grabbed a tray with a pitcher and some cups on it. Hotch went to help her and got scolded.

"No, sit. You are a guest." Nesrin wouldn't relinquish the tray.

"You better do as she says. If she wasn't expecting you'd be worse for wear."

Hotch went back to his seat. Savas came out of the kitchen, seeing his wife carrying the tray.

"Sit wife, I will bring the tray. I have told her to take some days off to rest; the baby is due most any day…."

"Women have been having babies for a long time my dear….I'm not the first one."

"But you are my wife, you should rest."

Nesrin sat next to Alecta, rolling her eyes.

"Aaron was like that. So, I feel your pain."

The small group sat and ate for a while; Aaron couldn't remember when he'd had so much food, and it was all wonderful. And the tea was just right.

"I'd offer you some Rakiya, but…under the circumstances…."

"Savas, it's alright. We will have some together another day."

"Undoubtedly." The man agreed.

As soon as the last patron decided to leave, Savas Bora jumped up and locked the door, flipping the closed sign around and pulled the shade down on the door before coming back to the table.

"Now, what is it that you would like to know?"

"Has there been any 'activity' lately?"

"I should say so. He's had nearly 600 years to build on his hatred and desire for you…in equal measures. It seems as though you're hard to get out of the system. You know how he is. He either wants you with him, controlled by him, or dead; and not necessarily in that order.' Looking at Hotch, 'And he'd have no problems going through you to get her."

"I am not afraid of him. I have seen him. I have faced him. And quite frankly, I'm not impressed."

"Hmmmm. We'll see about you yet Master Aaron. I hope when the time comes that your actions are as sure as your words."

"Is that a threat?"

"No merely….."

"Boys; pissing contest later, please. Savas, Aaron is quite good at what he does. Aaron, don't provoke Savas. You're good, but not now. Please behave, both of you."

"Fine. Master Aaron, I am not making threats; rather I am trying to be sure of you….if you understand? As of late, we've had problems with traitors and the like. I am Alecta's friend; I would be failing if I did not test you somehow."

"It's quite alright. I would have done the exact same thing."

"Yes, I know. I heard about your aim.' Savas gave Hotch a grin that was accompanied by a mischievously arched eyebrow.

The four talked for a little while longer, Nesrin seemed almost too quiet.

"Nes, what seems to be bothering you?" Alecta came to ask.

"Have you been told who shot at you in Russia?"

"No, why do you ask?"

"I happen to know who it was. I must beg of you, don't be angry at your friends; they didn't keep it from you out of spite. But you were under a great stress for weeks _and_ you did give birth. I'm sure they kept it from you out of respect for your situation at the time…."

"Nesrin….who was it?"

Nesrin took in a deep breath and let it out slowly, 'It was Yuri and his brother, Sergei."

"Are you certain?" Alecta looked puzzled. 'Why would he do something like that?"

"I am quite sure, yes. Immogene saw them from the scope on her rifle. She is the one that killed Sergei, and she meant to kill Yuri, but was only able to wing him a bit….he got away and they haven't seen him since."

"Istvan? Impatiev? What has happened to them?"

"Istvan was run down by a car. He was seriously injured, but he is alive and was released not so very long ago….."

"My old man?"

"That is another matter…."

"Savas!"

"It seems as though he was attacked, beat about the head. Whoever did it tried to burn down the Tea Room with him and some of his men in it. Impatiev was rendered unconscious; one of his men was able to drag him just to the door before succumbing to smoke inhalation. Some of the men from the neighborhood saw what was happening and pulled Impatiev out of the building. They have moved his location. He is no longer in hospital. But he is still unresponsive."

"W-where did they take him?"

"When you are able to make your way back to the fort….."

Everyone stopped and looked up; there was a visitor in the café with them.

"Michael?"

"Get them out of here. Now." Michael spoke to Savas and Nesrin to get them to move Alecta and Hotch out of the café.

"Go child, into the kitchen….come. Master Aaron. Come now. No time to argue."

Nesrin stood, grabbing a Saracen sword from wherever it had been lodged under the table, taking a fighting stance. Savas ushered Alecta and Aaron into the kitchen barking orders as he came through the door. Every available employee in the room dropped their dishes and grabbed for their weapons, surrounding Alecta and Aaron.

"Savas….."

"No. You stay here child, stay quiet; we will deal with this."

With that the man went back out into the dining room of the café, grabbing a sword as he went, shutting the door to the kitchen. Alecta made to go after him, but her path was blocked by two of Savas' men.

"Let me pass."

"M'lady, we have orders."

Alecta was furious. Suddenly, there was the sound of furniture being thrown about; tables and chairs over turned…..dishes crashing…the clank of weapons…..yelling…..then _quiet._ It was suddenly so quiet.

Alecta finally managed to push free of Savas' men and charged through the door, Aaron by her side; Alecta opened the door to the dining room carefully…..

"**NO!**" she went running into the room; Savas was lying maybe five feet from the door, he had such bad cuts across his chest and abdomen that it was a wonder that his insides didn't fall out altogether. Alecta knelt down beside him, trying to see how bad his wounds really were.

"Nesrin,' Savas whispered, unable to speak louder. "Nesrin and the baby….go to them."

Alecta merely nodded her head, not an argument escaped her then. She crawled over to where they had located Nesrin and found her mortally wounded but still alive as of yet with a knife sticking out of her chest.

"I'm sor…."

"Don't you dare…."Nesrin grabbed Alecta's hand as tightly as her weakened state would allow her. "Don't you ever apologize; you are the one that saved the Empire to begin with."

Alecta could only shake her head, no words would come out.

"Now look, I don't have long left this I know. But the baby…you need to take my baby."

Again, all Alecta could do was nod, any voice she had was too choked with tears to make it out. One of the men from the kitchen had gotten a pot of hot water and some towels, among other things to begin to help out. Meanwhile two more men made their way up the stairs to the family's apartment which was above the café and began collecting baby care items that Nesrin had collected in anticipation for the birth. The men began cramming a few diapers and a couple changes of clothing, etc. into the bag for the baby. Before exiting the room the men grabbed a baby sling that Nesrin had made herself, figuring that wherever Alecta and Aaron had to go that the sling would make carrying the baby easier.

It only took a few minutes to deliver the child, he was in great distress as you can imagine, and was more than ready to be born. If Nesrin had been uninjured the birth might have gone smoother, but nobody would ever know for sure.

"Nesrin, what would you like to name your son?"

Nesrin was fading so fast now, unable to keep her focus on anything much.

"Nesrin!" Alecta got her attention, if only for a moment, 'What are we naming the baby?"

"Call him…..' the woman was having trouble drawing a breath, 'call him….Umut."

"Of course I will." Alecta held the baby close enough to Nesrin that she could kiss the boy's chubby little cheek. Nesrin stroked his hair and began gasping and then she was gone. One of Savas' men took the baby from Alecta just as she gathered Nesrin in her arms and hugged the woman's now lifeless body, rocking back and forth; another one of the men got Hotch and pulled him back into the kitchen. The only thing Hotch could hear was Alecta wailing about her dead friend, and then some sort of prayer to guard the woman's soul. Another one of the men was finally able to pull Alecta away only to have her latch onto Savas who was already gone.

It took two men to pull her away from Savas. One of them had to half drag her into the kitchen; her grief was so heavy that she could barely stand on her own two feet. Her eyes were blurry with tears, some of which hadn't been able to fall yet. Her nose was completely stopped up….if Hotch thought she looked pale and worn out before….

Looking up, Alecta saw Michael yet again.

She was furious, her anger taking over now and she began to beat on his chest in fury that some of her dearest friends were dead. "Where were you?"

"I was there, I swear to you. But there was little that could be done. He had help."

Knowing what Michael said was the truth, Alecta could only nod her head. Michael held his arms open and she fell into them crying as if the world would end in the next five minutes.

Over her sobs Michael began speaking to Hotch. "You will need to follow me. I will lead you as far as I can." Turning to the men that had been in the kitchen, 'Some of you need to move that." With a nod of his head, Michael indicated that the men needed to move the large silver food preparation table away from the wall; it blocked a door that lead to the catacombs.

"Come with me." Michael ordered. He lead, Alecta right behind him, still quiet….not having said a word since she saw her friends die, Hotch was behind her as they went through the door. Michael gave orders to the men that were left in the café to _take care of things_. No sooner had Michael lead Alecta and Aaron down the steps into the beginning of the catacombs than the door had been shut and locked. The men then began to douse the whole place in gasoline, including the bodies.

When Alecta had heard the lock click behind them, she turned and looked at the door, the pain on her face becoming even more pronounced; she knew what had to happen to make sure that the souls of her dearly departed friends weren't corrupted. She knew this had to happen if they were to ever rest in peace. But that didn't make it hurt any less.

"Come now girl, don't give up now." Michael urged her.

Turning to him in a voice that sounded more sure than her tears would lead you to believe, 'I have no intention of giving up. On the contrary my friend. I will not stop until his blood is in my hands." With that she turned and grabbed the bag that Hotch had been carrying, rifling through it for one of the flashlights.

"Keep up, we haven't got all day." She began leading the way through the catacombs then.

Hotch watched her as he began to walk. Michael, carrying the baby, Umut, just smiled as he walked by Hotch's side.

"You seem pleased with yourself."

"I am. I knew that making her believe that I thought she was giving up would snap her out of it. You're welcome."

"Her friends just died, right in front of her…."

"And there will be more to come unless she puts that aside and finishes this. If we're lucky she will have time to properly mourn them later. But we need her head in this now."

The group of three….and a half….walked around the catacombs for the better part of an hour, nearly two before they came to a great cavernous room.

"This is where I must leave you I am afraid."

"What a minute…."

"Aaron, I have things I must attend to; I am not leaving you hear for sport. Besides, Alecta knows the way. She was here when they built these ruins. Darling I will meet you at the fortress later then."

Alecta went to him and hugged him, as she let go of him he vanished.

"Come on Aaron, we have to keep moving."

By now Alecta was carrying the child in the baby sling, walking ahead of Hotch. After two more hours of walking, they came to yet another cavernous room…..this one was a welcomed sight after all the narrow passageways they had been down just prior. Hotch felt like he could breathe again at least for the moment.

"What was this place?"

"Well, about 3,000 years ago it was a center of worship for some of the local pagans. Then Christianity took over and they built an early church over that. Then Islam became all the rage, and the old church was burned beyond all recognition. There were other areas of the city that suffered the same fate…."

"Why not Sophia?"

"Hagia Sophia is special. It was THE center piece of the whole place. When the nation of Islam took over the first instinct was to burn it down, like they did everything else. But they decided that a larger impact would be made to convert it to their purposes. The sight of dearest Sophia in the hands of the Muslims would send a strong message to everyone else. This was a minor church, servicing this end of the city, there wasn't much special about it. This particular area would have been the nave." She continued walking, "Now, I'm entering the chancel."

There was area more built up than the rest, 'This was where the altar stood, and this," continuing a few more feet, 'would have been the sanctuary."

Alecta looked around, seeing an old partially crumbling statue of Jesus, she sat at his feet, the baby still in the sling, one of her arms supporting the baby's weight as she got situated.

"What are you doing?" Aaron was concerned.

"We've been walking for four hours, or very nearly four hours. You're carrying that bag. I'm toting a baby. I don't care what is chasing us. We're resting here."

"Are you sure that is such a good idea?"

"Look we're at the feet of Christ, without actually standing next to God, you're in one of the safest spots in all of Istanbul. It's not my fault it just so happens to be underground. The people left their church, but the church never left them. Cop a squat.' She took out her cell phone, 'I'm setting the alarm for an hour. If we doze off that will give us time to get some rest and be on our way."

At the foot of the Christ statue she was able to set things up to give the baby almost a sort of crib. It wasn't much just some of the rubble that she was able to stack together and make a rim around the baby so he wouldn't be able to roll off. With the blankets he was wrapped in and the sling on top of that, he was actually quite comfortable. And even if the baby had been able to roll off, he wouldn't be hurt much. She sat herself, back against the pedestal to the Christ statue, arms folded (hiding the dagger behind one of them), chin resting against her chest….her knees were pulled up near to her chest; she looked uncomfortable as hell, but Hotch let it go. She was in no mood to be trifled with right now. Hotch found a spot near her that was as uncomfortable as any he'd ever slept on, but he didn't want to get to carried away sleeping; there was far too much at risk.

Hotch jolted awake when the alarm sounded. Alecta was already up and was going through some of the rubble around them.

"What are you doing?"

"Seeing if your Christian brethren left us anything useful at all. So far, I've come up with a few rocks and a hell of a lot of dust from a crumbling Empire, but nothing more useful than that. Damn it."

She paced back and forth, rubbing her temples, 'Come with me and bring the baby." Alecta grabbed the bag Hotch had previously been carrying and lead the way through the rest of the old church, down yet another set of stairs to an even older vault.

"Are we descending into hell?"

"I'm not Dante and this isn't _The Divine Comedy_. This isn't hell; it's not even purgatory. I've seen hell. There are more people there and it's hotter….though I would have made a fortune on that cold water racket if the boss hadn't shot me down on it. No this isn't hell darling. This is a burial chamber of sorts. It's one of the older parts of the catacombs."

"Why are we here?"

"It nears dusk; we have to wake the _travellers_."

"Who are they and why must we wake them?"

"They are seven strangers that travelled these parts once and either died or were murdered during their travels. For whatever the reasons, their remains were brought back here and buried. I think because of the anonymity of the place and the safety that offered. I dunno….It's been ages since I last had to wake them. I just hope I still got it."

"What do you mean you hope you still got it?"

"Look I can explain things a little better later. For now, all I can tell you is that, when you become a mortal human being, you lose a lot of the power you once held. Beyond that the story gets a little sketchy and frankly we don't have time right now. We are literally burning daylight as we speak. So, if you will allow me to wake the travellers..."

With that Alecta placed the baby down and walked over to a sarcophagus, 'Will you help me shove the lid? It's old and set in its ways."

Hotch dropped the bag next to the baby and did as she asked, 'Who might this fellow be?"

"From what I am to gather, he was John De Mowbray, he was born sometime in 1340 and was slain on his way to the Holy Land. He was killed somewhere close to Istanbul, generally speaking and was originally buried in a local convent. Yes, a convent. It was only for safe keeping until he could be moved to somewhere more suitable. If it wasn't out of concern for the safety of his soul, he wouldn't have been allowed on convent grounds. I mean he is a man after all."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"What you haven't heard? If it has tires or testicles it's going to give you problems…..Tell me you've heard this."

"Is that how you really feel?"

"Generally speaking…Yes. But, every so often I get taught a valuable lesson." With that she winks at Hotch and gestures for him to move aside which he does.

Alecta grabs for her dagger and drags it across one of her palms and then the other, opening wounds on them. Hotch had to admit that, for a man that had been dead for nearly 700 years, the body in the sarcophagus was in extremely good shape. In truth, there were no signs of decomposition at all.

"This had better work or I'm going to be so PISSED." She climbed into the sarcophagus, straddling the body in it, placing her bleeding palms on a bit of chest that she exposed, leaning forward and whispered something into the left ear of the man. Then she sat up and shook her head, leaning back over and breathing into the mouth of the man under her. Then she climbed out and stood next to Hotch.

"Now what?" He asked looking at her.

Reaching for a bottle of God knows what in the bag, and pulling the cork out, taking a swig and spitting it out, 'Now we wait."

It was the briefest of moments; Hotch heard breathing coming from the box. Stepping closer he saw the man's chest rising and falling slowly.

"Come on boy! We ain't got all day. Get your ass up. Shake the dust from your bones and let's get on with it! And Aaron, you might want to step back. He's not going to be a ray of sunshine when he comes up out of there."

Hotch stepped back over to where she was standing near the baby and the bag. In another moment or two the man in the box sat up, placing a hand on either side of the sarcophagus and getting his legs under himself to stand up.

Apparently the first thing he saw was Hotch, because he was furious at being woken from his rest….that and he likely figured that if he had been woken then that meant there was trouble, and the likely suspect was the man in front of him, and he made the effort to after Hotch.

Alecta stepped between them, 'Down boy, none of that now."

Upon seeing her, Resurrected John knelt to one knee, 'M'lady forgive me? I am at your service."

"No time for this just now. Help me wake the others."

With that Alecta and John set about waking the other six travellers in much the same fashion.

After the last one was brought to life, Alecta took a small bottle of whiskey, and two rags. She soaked the rags in the whiskey and had Hotch help her apply them to her hands. After that was done she took the bottle and tipped it up, drinking some of the leftover whiskey.

"God bless you, wherever you are Savas, my friend." Then she poured a dash out onto the earth.

John stepped forward, pulling at the sleeve of his tunic as if to straighten a wrinkle, 'M'lady, not that I'm not grateful for the chance to stretch my legs…But…What are we doing here?"

Alecta looked at John and the rest; they all had questioning looks on their faces.

"Really? You've been in that box for nearly 700 years and the first question you ask is why I woke you up?' Seeing that John wasn't wavering, 'Fine. An enemy of the empire has come back."

"Enemie of the….Oh! What does he want now?"

"Same as always. Me. He wants me; dead or alive….as long as I'm under his control, he doesn't much care."

"Well, I wish him luck with that."

Hotch slipped up with a question of his own, 'Why's that?"

"Well, Sir, nobody has been able to really control _this one_ for the better part of 8,000 years; most especially not for the last 2,000."

Mamoru started laughing, and then seeing the look Alecta shot him, he tried to make it sound as though he was coughing.

"Did we inhale some dust my dear?"

"Something like that."

"Lex, you do know that when we get back to the fortress….."

"I will answer as many of your questions as I can, Aaron. I promise. But you have to promise me something in return."

The _travellers_ just watched the exchange with some amusement.

"What would that be?"

"I know that somethings are going to be hard to understand. And there may even be some ways that you feel I might have lied to you. And, perhaps you'd be right in one way or other. But please believe me when I say that doing that was never my intention. When I met you, I was of the belief that I had left most of this…..the strange 'diplomat' and some of this BS….behind. I never thought in a million years I would ever have to explain all of it or that it would be staring me in the face like this.

Don't get angry with me like you did….."

"I won't, I swear it."

"Ok,'Alecta said this as barely a whisper as if she was trying to decide if he was being honest.

"So, what are you calling yourself these days?" Athos questioned her.

"Well, my mother, Rachel named me Alecta."

"Very apt; she chose wisely. Don't you think so Mahaan?"

"Unceasing anger…..too true Aubrey my friend."

"Ok, let's get the introductions over with. Aaron Hotchner, these are the travellers. John, I've told you about. The others are Ajeet Jaipal, Mahaan Paramjit, Aubrey Du Vallon, Mamoru, Athos, and Osiris…or at least that's what he's always told me to call him. Ajeet and Mahaan are from what is referred to these days as the Punjab district of India. Aubrey is French. Mamoru, is Japanese. Athos is Greek, duh. And Osiris was originally from Egypt, though I would have thought that was self-explanatory as well. Guys, this is my friend Aaron Hotchner. We work together….."

"Is that what they are calling it these days?"

"Aubrey!"

"Wait, what are these days?' Athos had the good sense to ask.

"Currently it's the year 2013, after Christ, for those of you who have been in the box longer than some of the rest."

"Good lord," Athos sat down on a taller pile of rubble. 'What have I missed since I've been away?"

"Too much. Athos, if we all get out of this in one piece, I will get you up to date with everything; but for the time being Aaron and I need help getting back to the fortress. I wouldn't ask for myself, you boys know that. But I have to consider Aaron's safety and the safety of this little baby."

Alecta held Umut up to the fellows so they could see him.

"Cute little guy; where are his parents?" Ajeet wanted to know.

Alecta just shook her head negatively.

"Oh, they didn't make it."

Mamoru stood and swore that they would do the job; the rest agreed and began getting the group assembled and ready to go. The travellers were rather relaxed while they made their way out of the rest of the catacombs. But when they got to the exit they were going to use, the men became all business. Mamoru took the lead, hand on his weapon as he made the exit looking around. It was after 5 P.M.; very likely it was closer to 6. They had maybe an hour at best to make it back to the fortress; an hour to make that trip? Even if they were able to take a direct route, that would be a daunting trip to make….they had to maneuver through the all the traffic that Istanbul had to offer. And there was no guarantee that they would get to take the direct route.

After making his initial exit, Mamoru held the door open for the others; two more of the travellers came out and then aided Alecta and Hotch in exiting the catacombs. After Hotch and Alecta made it out the other four men came out behind them. As they walked down the street, Mamoru stayed in the front, eyes scanning the crowds and the roof-lines. Two men flanked the right side, two men flanked the left, and there were two more that were bringing up the rear. Each man kept their eyes moving, alert to anything that seemed off at all.

"I dare one of those street urchins to come and try to sell us something." Hotch mumbled to Alecta.

Alecta snickered, 'Yeah really. I feel like I should just throw money at them to keep them from approaching too closely."

As they made their way towards the market square, the travellers began getting agitated. There were so many people. People haggling over the prices of the goods being bought, some shop keepers were getting ready to close up shop for the day. There were children kicking soccer balls around, dogs chasing cats. Life was going on as they continued to scan for signs of disturbance.

As they neared the center of the square, Mamoru stopped, holding one arm up to signal to the others that they needed to do so as well, his other hand gripped the pommel of his sword.

"Aubrey, I need you, Athos and Osiris to take them; go by the alley way and head for the fortress."

"Ajeet, I'm not leaving the four of you here that way."

"M'lady, I'm sorry but you don't have a choice. The two of you have that little one to think of. You can't protect him and fight, too."

"Hotch, hold the baby. Apparently Ajeet forgets who he's talking to."

Alecta removed two hidden blades from a disguised scabbard that was strapped to Mahaan's back. Mahaan had weapons of his own.

Hotch looked around, it seemed as though the square had become deserted in a matter of moments. You couldn't hear the dogs barking as they chased cats, and the children that were laughing and kicking the soccer ball were gone. Most of the shops had been closed up, somehow it seemed as though time had stood still, everything seemed frozen; it suddenly seemed to be near dusk. And they were surrounded by 15 of the creatures.

"Aaron, do you have the gift I gave you before we left?" Alecta winked at him.

"Yes, I believe that I do."

Since none of the creatures had advanced on them, the group began to move again.

"What do you think they're trying to prove?" Athos wondered out loud.

"Don't try to figure them out, just go." Osiris commanded.

The group began moving again, breaking into a run.

"Into the Souq, we will have some cover there." Mahaan ordered.

Without a second thought, they all ran into the area of the souq and kept running. They were covered for sure, some of the awnings of the shops hovering overhead as well as the roof of part of the building itself.

Coming to the end of the souq, "Look, the fortress, if we run for it…we might just make it." John was trying to sound hopeful.

The stood there, taking a few deep breaths, gathering the where withal to move forward. Ajeet was strapping the baby to her back so her hands would be free to run as fast as possible….or swing a weapon if the need arose.

"Are we ready?" Mamoru asked.

"Yes,' Ajeet answered as he fastened the last strap to secure the baby.

"Alright then…Osiris, you and Athos stick close to our girl here. We run and we don't look back, unless the situation necessitates it."

"Go!"

They all started running. They could hear the creatures coming after them, but staying true to the plan nobody dared look back.

"I just hope Simon has a plan." Alecta stated as she ran.

"Would you expect any less of him?" Aubrey questioned.

"No."

Even at the fastest pace they could run, the fortress was nearly a mile away, and there were going to be obstacles. There were things hunting them, people walking the streets, animals, cars, etc. This was going to prove problematic at best.

"A couple of us will take the lead to create a path for you and the boy. You just try to stay on your feet, alright."

"Do it."

The plan worked, there was only once when Alecta faltered and that was when she had to hurdle a bench that was nearby; she landed wrong, nearly twisting her ankle. If it hadn't been for Hotch catching her, she would have taken a nasty tumble.

"Just a few more feet,' Athos called out, 'run for it."

The creatures were still hot on their heels. One reached out to try to grab Alecta by her left arm.

"Not today my friend!" Ajeet used a silver bladed dagger to take a swing at the creature and that was enough to throw it off balance and allow her the extra second to keep running. As she did so she saw one of the creatures take Athos. Alecta's head whipped around, trying to see what was going on.

"Go M'lady. Keep going. Athos can take care of himself." Aubrey urged her.

She knew that under normal circumstances Aubrey would be right. But there were way more of these creatures than there were of Athos. Hotch was really worried that Alecta would give up the chase to help the man out. Just as she was about to do just that, there was a flash. Radar had made an impromptu appearance. Taking only a second to wink at Alecta, he wrapped his arms around Athos, and then the flash happened again and they were gone.

"Go girl go!" John yelled.

They finally reached the fortress, running around to the front gate which began to close as they arrived. As it began to shut the creatures fought for a way in past the heavy doors.

The group didn't stop running until they entered that large entry foyer from earlier.

All of them were out of breath; Alecta, with the baby still strapped to her back was leaning over trying to catch her breath.

"Those bastards will pay. I didn't care for that at all. I haven't ever cared much for running track."

The Sultan came forward to help them get the baby out of the sling attached to her back.

"Mehmed, good to see you again."

"Stop being droll, you are about to miss evening prayers."

After freeing Alecta from the baby sling, she took off up the stairs at a break neck speed, heading for the battlements. Hotch followed her. He had questions and he wasn't letting her out of his sight until he got answers. Once they got up to the battlements, Alecta kept going at a brisk pace until she got to her spot.

Without even turning to Hotch, 'That is one of my favorite sights in the entire city."

The muezzin stepped out onto the balcony, and looked to his left; seeing Alecta standing there he bowed his head slightly. She smiled one of those genuine smiles that seemed to light up her face and she bowed to him in return. The muezzin turned to his work then. As soon as he opened his mouth the most beautiful sound came out. This went on for several minutes. At the end of the call, the muezzin turned back to Alecta, bowed to her again, and smiled. They stared at each other for a few short minutes. They had apparently communicated some thought to one another because the man seemed to nod his head in agreement to something unspoken.

Hotch began to turn to go back into the fortress, but Alecta grabbed his arm.

"Wait!"

"What?"

"You're gonna miss it."

"What am I going to miss?"

"Just watch,' she pointed to the horizon over the Bosphorus strait. The sun was about to set, and the colors that it cast onto the buildings in the surrounding area were some of the most brilliant he'd ever seen. The reds seemed redder; the golds had more gold to them. The green in the leaves of the trees seemed greener. The light bounced off of the water like silver.

"I have always loved this town at sunset."

"It is something else,' Hotch watched her watching the sunset. She was completely in love.

"It would be ever so much more impressive without that damned bridge marring the view." She began to grumble. "Let's get inside. It'll be dark soon and as beautiful as Istanbul at night is, it is equally dangerous. Besides, dinner will be getting served soon."

At the thought of the dinner that would be served Alecta's eyes lit up.

Hotch followed her back through the fortress. She stopped by her room to check on the babies. They were in a pen that had been created on the floor with piles of pillows and blankets and surrounded by the women that had been assigned to take care of them. And Umut had been added to the group.

"How is he doing?" Alecta asked

"He has had his bath and a bottle, now he is just getting to know his new friends." Yildiz replied in her melodious voice. The babies were wiggling as much as newborns could on the pillows, learning the way to flail their arms and legs.

Alecta leaned over and lifted up Umut and kissed him on his newborn chubby cheek, stroking his hair.

"You will have your father in you….and your mother. Your father was a brave warrior. He fought for us for centuries. And your mother was one of the most intelligent women I have ever met. You will be a great man, as long as we can keep you out of _his_ hands." Alecta held him for a moment longer, squeezing him gently. Then she picked her own children up and cuddled them for a moment before she turned and went behind the changing screen and changed into another sari. This one was a brilliant deep purple with silver accents; it was a two piece. The top just did cover the good parts, the sleeves were capped. And the skirt to it wrapped and hung from just at her hips to her ankles; there was a net wrap that matched and went with it. As far as shoes, she was barefoot. After pulling her hair back into a quick sloppy braid, she joined Hotch and they went downstairs to the dining hall. As the children all came down, Sofie and Jack were giggling about something that they had gotten into.

"Are you having fun playing baby."

"Oh, mommy yes!" Sofie squealed with delight as she began to tell her mother about all the things they had seen on their little exploratory trek through the fortress. Alecta leaned over and picked Sofie up, resting the child on her left hip; then standing near a chair Emma was standing on, she lifted that child onto her right hip. Both little girls jumped all over babbling about the adventures they'd been on that day; although Emma was, as usual, quieter than Sofie. Emma sat on her mother's hip twirling one of Alecta's curls around her little finger as she and Sofie were reiterating each other's thoughts about the funny wall they found.

"_Mommy_, it had faces on it."

"What did they say?"

"Nuffin mommy, itsa wall."

"But mommy, there was boys faces and girls faces. And they were tall like Agent Barbie and Miss Embly, and the boys were tall like the Agent Man."

"Which Agent Man?"

"All of 'em."

"Ooh! And mommy the libary…..the libary!"

"What about the library?"

"It was so pretty."

"And the books, the smells of the books Mommy!"

That was Emma getting excited over the library, starting to squeal as hard as Sofie.

And that was how the conversation went as Hotch and Alecta lead the children out to the dining room.

There was a long table that was extremely long, divans on either side of it with pillows to bolster them, set with the most delicate China they had ever seen with a floral pattern that seemed to burst forth with vibrant colors. The table cloth was silken and had a metallic filigree design woven throughout it; candelabras lined the table every few feet. Those candelabras were of the finest silver and had actual gemstones draped through them for a dramatic effect.

"Mama,' Sasha spoke as she saw her mother coming into the room.

"Yes, Sasha?"

"That library mother, I have never seen one like it. All the books and they smelled so wonderful."

"You teach your kids to smell books?"

"Among other things. You can read a book; your imagination will use the words to take you to anywhere in the world. But that is only half of the story. With the older books, the smells that come from the pages tell you where the book was before it met you; you get two trips in one. Sometimes a book becomes your best friend."

"Like Jack and his love for 'The Hound of the Baskervilles'?"

"Exactly like that."

"He brought it with him you know, he will want you to read to him from it sometime while we are here."

"I'd love nothing more. I've missed him."

"You have no idea how much he's missed you."

As they got seated at the table, Sophie sat between Aaron and her mother.

"Sophie, can I sit next to your mother?"

"You made Mommy get upset. You can sit next to Mommy when I think you can behave a little bit." With that she scrunched her nose up a little bit and nodded her head for finality.

"Daddy, you got told." Jack, captain obvious was able to work in.

"Yeah, I kind of deserved it."

People came rushing from the kitchen of the fortress, bringing silver dishes of all shapes and sizes sitting them on the table in front of the guests. It was all so beautiful; nearly so beautiful you hated to eat everything and ruin the presentation.

The Sultan stood and gave a speech about having the right friends around you and the strength to fight against dark days and that he hoped that his guests enjoyed his hospitality as much as he enjoyed meeting them. With that he held up his glass and ended his speech before setting down to eat with the others.

During the dinner there was a small collection of musicians that had taken up residence a few feet from the table. They were playing their various drums, notably the Dholak and the Mridagam; as well they had a few Sitar players sitting there.

"Your Majesty?"

"My dear, I remember how much you used to love the music." Sultan Mehmed smiled knowingly at Alecta, and she looked to her plate rather sheepishly.

"No fair." At her remark, the Sultan merely chuckled as he raised his drink to his lips.

Leaning over to Alecta, beyond Sofie, 'What was that about?" Hotch was curious as to what could be so bad that Alecta would blush so profusely; he could count the times he'd seen that happen on one hand.

"It's nothing, honest."

"Sure it is." Hotch smiled at her.

Everyone ate and talked and had a great time. Alecta had risen from her seat at the table and walked over and sat near the musicians. She had initially just sat on her knees, but was now resting full weight sitting on her calves, legs folded up under her, engrossed in whatever they were playing.

One sitar player winked at her and began playing a different note and the other musicians followed suit.

"Dirty pool old man." Alecta claimed from her seat nearby.

Although you could not hear the player laughing, you could see the laughter clearly written on his face as he shook his head in reaction to whatever she had said to him.

Alecta's position was further compounded when Yildiz came and sat with the players and began singing; her angelic voice hitting the right note every time.

It was only a matter of time before Alecta was on her feet dancing away with the music. The Sultan was clapping and having a good time.

The muezzin, whose name was actually Bilal ibn Rabah al-Habashi, shook his head.

"What is so funny?" Reid asked the gentleman.

"It's a joke that goes back centuries. She was so in love with the sound of the music that once she started to dance she could not stop. Once she went for several days before she gave out. Goddess of war that she is, she could never resist music, she loved it so."

"How is that funny? It seems sort of cruel actually."

"Maybe in a way it is, perhaps you are right. But, the way she is….she is so….she is always ready for battle, always so sure of herself in the field of battle. But when it comes to the quiet times, to personal times, she's not so much. She relies quite a bit on smoke and mirrors I think you would say to make everyone think she is always in control or always confident in her powers. When the music plays is the one time that she forgets all of that and just…..IS."

Hotch had heard part of the conversation, his ears perked up listening in from his seat. He was getting just enough bits of information to keep his questions piling up.

He heard Bilal mention to Reid that during times of war, Alecta…..well, the old her….was a force to be reckoned with.

…"She would fight for days on end. Of course, being a goddess, she had no need for sleep or food or any of that. The men in the armies that were fighting, some of the ones following her into battle would fight 'til they dropped to keep up with her…

Sometimes, depending on how hard the battle had been, it didn't matter which side started playing music….just so long as it made her stop. Usually the side to start playing first was the opposing side. And that little trick was found out by mistake.

It happened the way most great discoveries do. It was late one night, campfires going. The soldiers were trying to get something to eat, to get some rest…..so many of them were on the verge of collapse. And the music could be heard to float from the camp of the opposition. They were trying anything they could to lift their own spirits. Alecta eventually heard the sounds of the music as it drifted to her and ceased her fighting. She sat on the ground at first, just listening. She had never heard a more mournful and beautiful sound. It was some song about missing home and missing the one that you loved most. Over time other music got played, singing was added. Armies on both sides began to notice how she changed when the music played. It got to the point they were so desperate that the musicians would play so hard for so long that they would be the ones dropping from exhaustion."

Rossi was up walking around, talking with Rachel, Alecta's mother, stretching their legs after dinner.

Pen was eating a little, she was worried about eating so very much and what she would be able to keep down; although it seems as though the Sultan had anticipated a problem and had something specially made for her.

"_It will settle the stomach, madam. One of my wives use to have some when she was unwell."_ With that said the Sultan winked at Pen and turned away to see to his other guests.

Pen decided to try it at least, it couldn't hurt; and she felt bad enough already. She could only move up from there.

Derek was eating the dish in front of him, loving the fact that the food was so perfectly spiced and everything was so delicious.

JJ and Emily were tasting off of each other's plates, happy with the foods they had tried so far. Will was helping Henry with some of his food to make sure if he was able to handle some of it or not.

Reid was busy talking to Bilal, learning more. Hotch was studying Alecta and keeping one ear on the conversation.

Rachel, Alecta's daughter had jumped up to join her mother; the two seemed to be having a blast.

Suddenly, the door to the dining hall blew open, nearly blowing off of its hinges; a very tall, dark haired, brooding man came through the now open door. He saw that he was near Rossi, so he grabbed him, jerking him by the arm causing Mrs. King to stumble a bit before catching her balance.

The musicians stopped dead in the middle of the note they were playing. Alecta and her daughter spun to face the menace that had interfered with their dinner.

Alecta grew angry. The fury washed over her so quickly it was like she was possessed.

"Let the old man go."

"Come and get him."

"I'll tell you only once more. Let. The. Old. Man. Go. NOW!"

"Or what?"

"That old man belongs to me. Let him go and we can forget this ever happened. Final offer."

"What are you going to do? You can't kill a God."

Alecta laughed right in the face of the man that had grabbed Rossi. This man had to be every inch as big as Kong, and she laughed in his face.

"You poor delusional bastard. I've done it before….More than once…..And I can do it again. Now, let the old man go or I'll have to lose my temper."

"You're bound in your bones. What are you going to do to me from there? The only way that you will ever be able to do any harm to me is if you are returned to your natural state."

"Then why don't you do the honors? Release me of this human form and then maybe we can have some fun." Alecta had begun to walk slowly around the man, dragging one fingernail across the back of his shoulders, brushing the length of his hair accidently as she went.

"I'm not stupid….."

"And yet you contradict yourself. You've barged in here, disrupting our meal, unannounced, uninvited…..and you have assaulted _my_ old man. Need I remind you what happened the last time our paths crossed?"

The man shoved Rossi back into the room; Alecta was there to steady him on his feet.

"I'm not afraid of you, you know that. You're just some old dusty stone-age Babylonian war Goddess….."

"It was the Bronze age….and it was Mesopotamia. If you're going to tell a story, get your facts straight."

Alecta was really starting to get pissed off, her voice was a dead give-away. Hotch was grateful for just a split second that it wasn't aimed at him.

"Whatever, the point is….I'm not afraid of you. You're just a washed up has-been trapped in a mortal body because you couldn't cut it in our world anymore."

Walking dangerously closer to the man, to the point she would have been eye to eye with him if their sizes had been more equal, 'Well then, if I'm such a washed up has-been please explain to me why it is that there are people in this world that still fear me; as opposed to you who have become a footnote, a curiosity in some old history book in a junior high school child's locker?"

Alecta stood her ground, not giving an inch. The larger man stared down at her. He must have seen something in her eyes that gave away just how close he was to her raising hell on him because he turned around and left almost as suddenly as he came.

Turning to Rossi, sounding more like the Alecta that the team knew, 'Are you alright? Did he hurt you at all?"

"No."

"You're sure?"

"I promise."

The Sultan was sitting quietly; he began to give instructions for the dishes to be taken away. And then he spoke to everyone in the room.

"I am having the liberty of having refreshments in the gallery. I will have Alecta bring you with her momentarily." Alecta nodded to him as he gave her the order to bring the others.

Yildiz agreed to take the children back to Alecta's room. Of course Sofie and Emma argued. They wanted to be allowed to go with their mother. Although Sofie was usually the problem child when it came to having melt downs, Emma was giving her a run for her money just now.

Alecta took them to the side and spoke to them.

"Look, you need to go with Yildiz back to the room. I promise I will tell you what you want to know later, but right now I have to go talk with the Sultan and we need to figure some things out. Please don't be like this. After the Sultan let us come to his house and he was so nice to us…."

Sofie sort of crinkled her face a bit as if she was weighing other options, Emma glared at Alecta. They both decided and answered almost in unison.

"Ok Mommy." Then they walked over to the Sultan and hugged him and told everybody goodnight.

Alecta smiled as the children walked away. Sasha, Eva, Rachel, and Oleg were allowed to stay with the adults because they were all older and not as easily talked down. Alecta knew enough to pick her battles.

Everyone made their way to the gallery that the Sultan had spoken of; Alecta took the team the back way through some of the secret passages of the fortress, and they beat the Sultan by just a few moments.

"Are you ready child? This is going to open all things up…."

"We don't have a choice. They are getting sucked into this; it's only fair they know what they are getting themselves into."

The Sultan nodded his agreement and opened the large double doors of the gallery, flicking the light switch, illuminating the room in a soft glow.

Everyone walked into the room. The ceiling had to be nearly 40ft high in this room, and it was somewhere in the neighborhood of 8,000-10,000sq ft. with the ceiling being so high there were multiple levels; stairs climbed the walls and lead to these different floors of the room. There were shelves lining some walls containing artifacts. There were portraits on the walls depicting various people, places, and events. There were some artifacts that were on pedestals, surrounded by glass cases. It looked every inch like a museum.

"What is this place?" Eva asked her mother.

"My dear, this is the condensed version of my life."

Reid had gone off looking at some of the artifacts on his own, reserving his questions for when he had no explanation that suited him. Suddenly he spoke up.

"This is a bronze from about 1350 BC….Middle Eastern…"

"Syria actually. But you should see this figurine. It's the oldest likeness of me that anyone has ever found. It's made from wood.' Looking at Rossi and smiling, 'Acacia wood as it goes."

Rossi looked at her and smiled back, remembering his questions about that during an earlier conversation.

"I mean, it's not completely intact. I missing the little spear…no, it was a sword I was carrying….it was beautiful. The pommel of the sword was bronze, and the blade was made out of iron, and it was rather intricate work for basic equipment that they had back then."

"How long ago was that?"

"I don't know, Spencer, maybe 6,000 years….."

"Mother, what is this?"

Oleg was looking at an old painting.

The Sultan spoke up, 'That is from the Renaissance. An 'unknown' artist painted that."

"Mom, it looks remarkably like you." Rachel stated.

Alecta wasn't paying attention anymore. She had grabbed a glass of wine and was walking over to a window with it in her hand; she had stuck her right index finger into the wine, just past the tip ever so slightly and was twirling her finger in the wine, creating little ripples in it. She seemed lost in thought. But the Sultan knew better.

"My dear, it looks like your mother because it is. That painter painted the image from memory. You see, he was like us….well, like me. He had lived for centuries. He knew your mother from before…."

"Before what?" Rachel asked indignantly.

"Before I became mortal like the rest of you,' Alecta spoke from her spot at the window.

"Darling girl what are you up to now?"

"Just thinking."

"That's usually cause for alarm."

"If that bastard could just barge in here the way he did he's staying somewhere close by."

"You don't think he's here in Istanbul do you?" Selim asked with an edge to his voice.

"No, he wouldn't be so stupid as to make landfall in my city. Not after what happened the last time."

With that Alecta went back to stirring her wine with her finger.

"Give me that,' Mehmed took the wine from her. "There will be no sinking of ships until we know for sure what's going on."

"Fuddy duddy." Alecta walked away from the window. Bayezit walked over to the window, looking out over the mouth of the Bosphorus, where it opened onto the Black Sea.

"Too late old man, there are already three ships down."

Taking her by the arms, and giving her a slight shake, 'Why would you do that girl?"

"It was a warning. If he harms my city there will be consequences. Perhaps after last time he will remember."

"Momma, what does all of this mean?" Rachel was getting a little worried and maybe a touch pissed off at not receiving any answers.

Alecta looked up into the abyss that lead, eventually, to the ceiling. She took a deep breath, letting it out.

"Please, sit, I have a story to tell. But do pay attention, it is long and the night grows shorter."

**Post AN: So that is finally Chapter 40. I'm sure there was a cut-off point before this, but I wasn't sure exactly where to try that. Anyway, this is it. Next chapter, is the 'magic circle'; Alecta will finally answer the questions, telling her story…perhaps meet a few new people…we will have to see what falls out. **


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